LIBRARY  w 

OF    THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 
Class 


TRADE    UNIONISM    AND 
BRITISH    INDUSTRY 


TRADE    UNIONISM    AND 
BRITISH    INDUSTRY 

A  REPRINT  OF  "THE  TIMES"  ARTICLES 

ON  "THE  CRISIS  IN  BRITISH  INDUSTRY1' 

WITH   AN   INTRODUCTION 

BY     EDWIN     A.     PRATT 


NEW    YORK 

E.   P.   DUTTON   &   CO. 

LONDON:    JOHN    MURRAY 

1904 


PRINTED   BY 

HAZELL,   WATSON   AND   VINKY,    LD., 

LONDON    AND   AYLESBURY, 

ENGLAND. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION 1 

"CV  CANNY"          .       • 21 

THE  BUILDING  TRADES    .         .         ...         .         .28 

EFFECT  ON  HOUSE  PROPERTY 40 

THE  ENGINEERING  TRADES      .  .         .         .43 

BoiLERMAKING  AND  SHIPBUILDING     ....       50 

IRONFOUNDING 59 

THE  SOUTH  METROPOLITAN  GAS  COMPANY       .         .       62 

BOOT  AND  SHOE  TRADES          .         ....       65 
RAILWAY  WORKERS          .         .         .         .         .         .71 

THE  TRAINING  OF  BOYS.         .....       76 

PLATE-GLASS  BEVELLERS 79 

PLATE-GLASS  AND  SHEET-GLASS        ....       83 
THE  YORKSHIRE  GLASS  BOTTLE  TRADE    ...       84 

THE  BLACK  BOTTLE  TRADE     .         .         .         .         .88 


vi  CONTENTS 

FACE 

THE  FLINT-GLASS  TRADE  94 


THE  BIRMINGHAM  BRASS  TRADES     .         .         .         .109 
THE  BIRMINGHAM  TINPLATE  TRADE         .         .         .114 

GlJNMAKERS    AND   TECHNICAL    INSTRUCTION  .  .121 

SHEFFIELD  TRADES 126 

BRITANNIA-METAL  SMITHS          .         .         .         .131 

SILVERSMITHS 134 

THE  CUTLERY  TRADES 135 

THE  RAZOR  TRADE          .         .         .         .         .     137 

THE  SAW  TRADE 138 

EDGE  TOOLS 139 

FILE-MAKING 140 

THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  SHEFFIELD  TRADES  .         .142 

THE  PRINTING  TRADES 148 

THE  FURNITURE  TRADES 162 

THE   GOLD-BEATING   INDUSTRY   AND    GERMAN    COM- 
PETITION   167 

SOME  MISCELLANEOUS  EXAMPLES      .         .         .         .172 
AN  IRONMASTER'S  EXPERIENCES  .         .         .181 


CONTENTS  vii 

PAGE 

AMERICAN  METHODS         ...  .     185 

WHITHER  "  Go  EASY  "  is  LEADING  .  .  .192 
A  BRITISH  SEAPORT  UNDER  TRADE  UNION  RULE  .  195 
AGGRESSIVE  TRADE  UNIONISM  our  OF  DATE  .  .198 

EMPLOYERS'  BENEFIT  FUNDS 201 

A  TRADE  UNION  REFORM  MOVEMENT  .  .  .  203 
THE  EMPLOYERS'  POLICY  OF  SELF-DEFENCE  .  .  208 
INDUSTRIAL  TRAINING  .  .  .  .  .  .212 

EMPLOYERS'  COMBINATIONS 214 

TRADE  UNION  PROVIDENT  FUNDS     .         .         .  218 
THE   BOARD  OF   TRADE   AND   ITS   LABOUR   DEPART- 
MENT        221 

INDEX  259 


INTRODUCTION 

THREE  letters  recently  published  in  The  Times 
have  suggested  to  me  the  desirability  of  re- 
printing, at  the  present  juncture,  the  series  of 
articles  which  I  contributed  to  the  columns  of 
that  journal  between  November  18,  1901,  and 
January  16,  1902,  under  the  title  of  "  The  Crisis 
in  British  Industry."  The  letters  in  question 
(the  first  of  which  appeared  on  October  13,  and 
the  two  others  on  October  21,  1903)  are  as 
follows : — 

TO  THE  EDITOR  OF  THE  TIMES. 

SIR, — The  whole  country  is  ringing  with  proposed 
changes  in  our  fiscal  policy  designed  to  stimulate  and 
increase  our  trade.  These  objects  cannot  be  attained 
except  by  means  of  successful  competition  with  our 
foreign  rivals.  How  can  we  compete  with  them  success- 
fully ?  By  modifying  or  abandoning  our  system  of  free 
imports  and  by  preferential  tariffs,  so  it  is  said.  This  is 
a  political  answer,  and  is  based  upon  theory  only  as  yet. 
But  it  has  a  worse  fault.  It  ignores  a  more  formidable 
obstacle  to  the  maintenance  and  improvement  of  British 
trade  than  our  own  and  foreign  tariff  systems  combined. 
This  obstacle  does  not  depend  upon  fiscal  policy  at  all. 

1  1 


2  INTRODUCTION 

It  exists  now  and  will  still  exist,  whatever  alterations 
be  made  in  that  policy. 

What  is  the  obstacle  ?  It  is  the  fact  that  the  cost  of 
production  in  many  of  our  great  industries  is  higher  than 
the  cost  of  production  in  the  same  industries  abroad. 
Why  is  this  the  case  ?  There  are  at  least  three  causes. 
First,  the  cost  of  living  is  more  for  working  men  here 
than  it  is  abroad.  Secondly,  foreigners  work  more  days 
a  year  and  more  hours  a  day  than  we  do.  Thirdly,  the 
English  working  man's  working  hours  are  too  often  more 
nominal  than  real.  So  long  as  these  three  causes  remain 
unremedied  it  is  idle  to  hope  to  be  able  to  hold  our  own 
with  foreign  trade. 

Even  if  we  assume  that  fiscal  changes  would  slightly 
increase  the  cost  of  living  to  foreign  workmen,  they 
could  not  possibly  have  any  effect  upon  the  second  and 
third  of  these  causes.  But  we  have  remedies  at  hand  if 
we  would  only  use  them. 

In  the  first  place,  our  working  men  must  make  up  their 
minds  to  have  the  common  honesty  to  do  a  fair  day's 
work  for  their  daily  wage.  At  present,  in  spite  of  all  the 
indignant  denials  and  hysterical  disclaimers  of  trade  union 
officials,  restriction  of  output  is  widely  practised. 

Restriction  of  output  is  pure  protection,  and  yet  our 
trade  unions  are  all  for  free  trade.  Beautiful  consistency  ! 
Restriction  is  not  only  a  dishonest  commercial  policy 
which  converts  labour  into  a  band  of  organised  thieves, 
but  it  is  suicidal  to  the  working  man,  because  it  drives 
trade  from  the  country.  This  practice  is  well  known  to 
all  familiar  with  our  great  industries,  and  even  to  some 
politicians,  but  they,  of  course,  dare  not  refer  to  the 
evil. 

In  the  second  place,  when  the  trade  unions  have 
abandoned  restriction  of  output  and  the  engineering  of 
labour  disputes  at  home,  they  must  employ  their  energies 


EFFECT   ON  THE   COUNTRY'S  TRADE       3 

and  funds  in  improving  the  organisation  of  foreign  labour. 
By  adopting  this  course  they  will  encourage  their  trade 
rivals  in  their  demands  for  shorter  hours  and  better  wages. 
These  demands  will  succeed  as  they  did  here.  Then  the 
foreign  manufacturer's  cost  of  production  must,  and 
will,  rise,  which  means  that  his  competitive  power  will 
decrease.  British  trade  would  reap  the  benefit. 

The  remedies  here  advocated  are  simple  and  practical, 
and  can  be  tried  without  inquiry,  political  campaign,  or 
Act  of  Parliament.  They  would  be  tried  to-morrow  but 
for  the  crass  stupidity  of  the  British  workman,  who  is 
content  to  follow  the  blind  leading  of  his  unions.  The 
effects  of  his  folly  are  becoming  so  serious  to  the  country 
generally  that  they  cannot  be  allowed  to  continue.  We 
have  arrived  at  a  point  where  we  must  not  only  recognise 
this  truth,  but  fearlessly  state  it,  however  disagreeable 
it  may  be  to  the  wire-pullers  of  party  politics.  The 
working  classes  have  no  monopoly  either  of  political  or 
commercial  wisdom,  and  they  are  making  use  of  their 
power  in  a  way  so  detrimental  to  their  country's  trade 
that  a  period  must  be  put  to  their  harmful  tactics,  and 
that  right  soon. 

A  class  which  works  nine  hours  a  day  at  the  outside, 
and  thinks  it  can  compete  with  its  foreign  rivals  who 
work  at  least  ten  hours  a  day,  is  committing  a  gross  error. 
The  outcry  for  aid  to  our  commerce  shows  that  we  feel 
the  result  of  our  labour  policy  ;  but  instead  of  blaming 
the  working  men  we  blame  foreign  tariffs,  and  our  own 
free  import  system. 

What  typical  insular  logic  ! 

Yours  truly, 

AN  HONUST  LABOLTEEK. 
NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, 
October  9. 


INTRODUCTION 


TO  THE  EDITOR  OF  THE  TIMES. 

SIR, — May  I  call  attention  to  an  aspect  of  the  fiscal 
question  which  seems  to  me  to  have  been  more  or  less 
overlooked  in  the  heat  of  the  controversy  ?  There  are, 
I  suppose,  two  aims  or  motives,  with  one  or  both  of 
which  we  all  enter  upon  the  inquiry  ;  they  are  by  no 
means  identical,  nor  do  they  run  on  parallel  lines.  One 
is  the  consolidation  of  the  Empire,  the  other  the  im- 
provement of  our  industrial  trade. 

As  regards  the  first,  many  of  us  are  awaiting  the  state- 
ment of  some  scheme  which  -shall  be  mutually  advan- 
tageous to  the  mother  country  and  all  the  colonies  alike, 
and  which  will  be  accepted  by  all.  Hitherto  not  even 
the  outline  of  a  scheme  fulfilling  all  these  conditions  has 
been  put  forth. 

The  aspect  to  which  I  refer,  however,  has  to  do  with 
the  second  aim — viz.  the  improvement  or  revival  of  our 
trade.  Assuming  that  trade  is  in  a  languishing  condition, 
can  legislation,  or  protection,  or  any  fiscal  enactment, 
alone  restore  it  to  prosperity  ?  I  fear  not ;  the  antecedent 
necessity  is  persistent  industry,  and  there  is  reason  to 
fear  that  the  industry  of  the  United  Kingdom  is  "  sore  let 
and  hindered  "  by  the  restrictive  policy  of  the  trade  unions. 
The  essential  corollary  of  free  trade  is  free  labour, 
whereas  we  have  free  imports  and  protected  labour. 

The  two  trades  with  which  I  may  claim  some  personal 
acquaintance  are  the  printing  and  building  trades,  and  it 
is  matter  of  common  knowledge  that  in  them  too  fre- 
quently the  best  and  the  quickest  worker  is  not  allowed 
to  reap  the  fruits  of  his  skill  and  industry.  Tariffs  act 
like  a  handicap  in  a  game,  which  may  equalise  two 
players  of  known  skill  who  may  be  relied  upon  to  do 
their  best,  but  is  powerless  to  make  a  shirker  "  play  up 
and  play  the  game." 


NEED  FOR  GENUINE   INDUSTRY  5 

Were  true  industry,  with  its  concomitants  of  thrift, 
sobriety,  and  freedom  from  gambling,  to  prevail,  I  for 
one  believe  that  the  British  workman  could  hold  his  own, 
and  more  than  hold  his  own,  against  the  world — protec- 
tion or  no  protection.  I  do  not  presume  to  say  that  pro- 
tection is  ineffectual ;  I  only  say  that  protection  without 
genuine  industry  is  like  a  besieged  fortress  without  a 
garrison. 

I  yield  to  no  one  in  appreciation  of  the  great  work 
accomplished  by  trade  unions,  but  I  submit  that  their 
policy  of  restriction  of  output  and  of  individual  effort  is 
doing  more  injury  to  the  industrial  trade  of  this  country 
than  foreign  tariffs.  Trade  unionism  in  America  and  in 
Germany,  so  far  as  I  can  ascertain,  enforces  no  such 
restrictions  as  prevail  over  here.  I  hope  that  some  of 
our  leading  men  will  deal  with  this  question ;  combined 
with  the  efforts  which  are  now  being  made  for  amended 
education,  a  genuine  effort  to  free  the  individual  worker 
from  the  shackles  in  which  he  now  works  cannot  fail  to 
have  most  important  results. 

I  know  that  from  a  political  point  of  view  the  subject 
is  a  thorny  one  to  touch ;  but  if  the  true  facts  of  the 
case  could  be  dispassionately  laid  before  the  mass  of 
English  workmen,  it  is  impossible  to  believe  that  they 
could  fail  to  see  in  which  direction  their  interests  lie. 
I  am,  Sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

JOHN  MURRAY. 

50,  ALBEMARLE  STREET,  W., 
October  20. 


TO  THE  EDITOR  OF  THE  TIMES. 

SIR, — The  successful  endeavour  to  make  our  fiscal 
system  a  matter  of  party  politics  has  prevented  the 
direct  discussion  of  some  of  the  aspects  of  the  question 
by  politicians.  They  are  unwilling  to  attribute  the 


6  INTRODUCTION 

diminution  of  our  foreign  trade  to  the  action  of  trade 
unions,  and  so  a  large  part  of  the  cause  of  the  diminution 
remains  unmentioned  and  unattended  to.  I  refer  to  the 
practice  of  restriction  of  output,  which  I  think  is  largely 
responsible  for  our  inability  to  compete  with  the  harder- 
working  foreigner.  Under  these  circumstances  protection 
has  been  determined  on  as  a  means  of  keeping  off  com- 
petition. 

The  Times'  investigation  proved  that  our  workmen 
are  content  to  do  just  enough  work  to  keep  a  factory  in 
a  position  to  carry  on  its  business,  and  that,  though 
denied  by  prominent  trade  unionists,  there  exists  a  tacit 
but  clearly  understood  intention  on  the  workmen's  part 
to  turn  out  no  more  than  that  amount.  This  policy  has 
been  represented  to  the  men  as  altruistic  as  well  as 
advantageous  ;  it  is  also  welcome  to  all  who  are  idle  by 
nature. 

Now  of  all  other  trade  union  questions  this  one  is  at 
any  rate  answered  in  a  totally  different  spirit  by  Con- 
tinental and  American  people.  There  we  find  piecework, 
and  systems  designed  to  make  hard  work  and  increased 
output  profitable  to  the  individual  workman  are  allowed  ; 
and  hence  it  tends  at  any  rate,  to  come  about  that  the 
foreigners  have  surplus  goods  to  sell  at  a  profit  outside 
their  home  market.  This  is  not  overproduction  by  any 
means.  Their  unrestricted  output  gives  a  surplus  of 
goods  which  is  used  to  turn  the  balance  against  us,  and, 
reacting,  to  discourage  our  manufacturers  and  make  them 
unwilling  to  put  down  new  plant  or  sink  capital  in 
factories. 

So  protection  is  the  cure  pressed  on  us ;  but  is  there 
no  danger  that  this  also  will  be  turned  to  account  to 
further  restrict  output,  and  will  only  leave  us  with 
higher  prices  to  the  home  consumer  and  no  foreign  markets 
invaded?  Our  workmen,  enjoying  free  cheap  imports  and 


THE  CAUSE  OF  THE  FISCAL  CRISIS  7 

the  advantage  of  cheap  capital,  ought  as  it  is  to  be  able 
to  undersell  the  taxed  foreigner,  and  I  believe  they  could 
but  for  the  bad  advice  of  their  leaders. 

A  member  of  the  present  Cabinet  was  asked  if  a 
little  elementary  political  economy  might  be  taught  in 
our  schools  ;  but  his  answer  was  that  the  whole  body 
of  trade  unionists  would  be  up  in  arms  against  it.  I 
suggest  education  on  the  fallacy  of  the  doctrine  of  re- 
striction of  output  as  a  cure  for  the  state  of  affairs  which 
has  brought  about  the  fiscal  crisis. 

Yours  faithfully, 

E.  BAYNES  BADCOCK. 
7,  PEMBRIDGE  CRESCENT,  W., 
October  15. 


At  the  time  my  articles  were  written  there  was, 
of  course,  no  suggestion  that  Mr.  Chamberlain 
would  raise  a  "  crisis  "  in  the  country  in  regard 
to  the  fiscal  question — a  question  which,  as 
Mr.  John  Murray  points  out  in  the  letter  quoted 
above,  involves  the  twofold  aspect  of  the  con- 
solidation of  the  Empire  and  the  improvement 
of  our  industrial  trade.  It  is  with  the  latter  that 
we  are  here  specially  concerned,  and,  looking 
back  to  the  tour  of  inquiry  which  I  made  in 
the  autumn  of  1901  with  the  view  of  collecting 
materials  for  the  articles  in  question,  I  am  struck 
by  the  fact  that  although  manufacturers  great 
and  small,  representing  a  large  variety  of  different 
trades  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  discussed 
their  grievances  with  me,  it  was  only  on  very 


8  INTRODUCTION 

rare  occasions  that  reference  was  made  by  them 
to  fiscal  difficulties  and  the  need  for  protection, 
and  then  only  incidentally.  It  will  be  seen 
that,  in  giving  an  account  of  the  "  Sheffield 
Trades,"  I  remarked,  "  One  hears  the  same  story 
of  a  steady  decadence  and  a  transfer  of  more 
or  less  of  the  trade  into  the  hands  of  foreign 
competitors " ;  and  I  went  on  to  say,  "  For 
this  result  hostile  tariffs  are  undoubtedly  re- 
sponsible to  a  certain  extent,  but  there  are 
various  characteristics  and  peculiarities  of  the 
trades  in  question  that  render  them  especially 
deserving  of  study."  This  was  the  key-note  in 
regard  not  only  to  the  Sheffield  trades  but  to 
many  others  as  well,  and  the  general  impression 
then  undoubtedly  seemed  to  be  that  if  British 
manufacturers  were  not  so  hampered  by  labour 
conditions  they  would,  as  a  rule — though  ex- 
ceptions were  freely  admitted — be  able  to  hold 
their  own  in  spite  of  foreign  competition. 

It  may  be  that  in  1901,  before  Mr.  Chamberlain 
had  brought  forward  his  array  of  facts,  figures, 
and  arguments,  the  country  had  not  sufficiently 
realised  the  effects  of  hostile  tariffs ;  and  it  may 
also  be  thought  in  some  quarters  that  my  articles 
erred  in  not  giving  greater  emphasis  to  this 
aspect  of  the  question.  If  so,  I  can  only  plead 
that  I  presented  the  aforesaid  grievances  as  I 


DIFFICULTIES  OF  MANUFACTURERS          9 

found  them.  To-day  the  tendency  is  to  go  to 
the  other  extreme,  and  to  attribute  the  troubles 
that  have  overtaken  British  industry  and  British 
commerce  to  fiscal  causes  alone.  In  regard  to 
the  glass  trades,  for  instance,  speeches  have  been 
made,  leaflets  have  been  issued,  and  numberless 
letters  have  been  written  to  the  newspapers 
(especially  those  in  the  Midlands),  tracing  to 
hostile  tariffs  and  foreign  competition  the  closing 
of  so  many  glass-works  in  this  country,  and  the 
depression  that  has  come  over  the  British  glass 
industries  in  general.  But  if  the  reader  will 
turn  to  the  sections  dealing  with  the  glass, 
trades,  and  see  what  I  relate  as  to  the  difficulties 
manufacturers  have  had  to  face  in  dealing  with 
their  workpeople,  he  will  cease  to  wonder  that 
so  many  of  them  have  come  to  grief,  and  he  will 
understand  the  more  readily  how  the  prevalence 
of  such  conditions  as  those  described  must 
have  facilitated  the  operations  of  the  foreigner  in 
gaining  the  position  on  our  markets  he  has  now 
secured. 

If  further  evidence  on  this  aspect  of  the  ques- 
tion be  needed,  I  would  commend  for  considera- 
tion the  following  paragraph  from  The  Times  of 
November  19,  1903,  in  regard  to  the  Penrhyn 
Quarry  strike — a  dispute  in  which  the  main 
point  at  issue  was  whether  the  real  control  of 


10  INTRODUCTION 

the  quarry  should  be  in  the  hands  of  Lord 
Penrhyn  or  in  those  of  the  trade  union 
leaders : 

A  correspondent  writes  : — "  It  is  estimated  that  the 
Penrhyn  Quarry  strike,  which  ended  last  week  after  lasting 
three  years,  although  all  the  men  were  not  out  during  that 
period,  cost  the  district  the  sum  of  c£364,000  in  wages 
alone.  An  alarming  fact  has  come  to  light  in  connection 
with  the  dispute.  Before  the  strike,  which  began  in 
October,  1900,  the  amount  of  slates  imported  into  this 
country  might  almost  be  regarded  as  a  negligible  quantity. 
For  the  quarter  ended  March,  1901,  the  quantity  of  slates 
imported  into  this  country  amounted  to  15,702  tons,  and 
for  the  quarter  ended  September  30,  the  figures  reached 
a  total  of  31,581  tons.  The  figures  show  a  steady  and 
alarming  increase,  and  it  is  feared  that  the  slate  trade  of 
North  Wales  has  been  permanently  injured  by  the  strike." 

The  facts  here  narrated  represent  only  one 
of  many  instances  that  might  be  given  showing 
the  way  in  which  trade  has  left  the  country  as 
the  direct  result  of  industrial  warfare,  and  no 
possible  policy  of  tariff  reform  could  by  itself 
have  prevented  such  grave  injury  to  the  trades 
concerned. 

There  is,  indeed,  abundant  food  for  reflection 
in  the  problem  as  to  whether  the  imposition  of 
tariffs  on  foreign  commodities  in  the  interests 
of  British  industries  would  or  would  not  add  to 
the  complications  of  any  labour  dispute  arising 
in  such  industries.  Presumably  the  purchasers 


THE   POLITICAL  POINT   OF   VIEW          11 

of  slates  in  this  country  did  not  themselves  suffer 
from  the  stoppage  of  the  Penrhyn  supplies,  be- 
cause their  wants  were  readily  met  from  abroad  ; 
but,  taking  this  Penrhyn  dispute  as  an  illustra- 
tion, I  would  invite  the  reader  to  ask  himself 
this  question  :  Assuming  for  the  sake  of  argu- 
ment that  there  had  been  a  tariff  on  foreign 
slates,  what  effect  would  the  existence  of  such 
a  tariff  have  had  on  the  position  of  (a)  the 
strikers,  (b)  Lord  Penrhyn,  and  (c)  the  pur- 
chasers of  slates,  respectively  ?  And  what  effect, 
also,  would  similar  conditions  and  circumstances 
be  likely  to  have  on  other  industries  if  we  are 
to  think  only  of  tariff  reform,  and  ignore  the 
equally  important  factor  of  labour  reform  ? 

As  Mr.  John  Murray  truly  enough  says  in 
his  letter,  "from  a  political  point  of  view  the 
subject  is  a  thorny  one  to  touch."  Each  party 
to  the  present  controversy  wants,  as  an  ordinary 
matter  of  tactics,  the  support  of  the  working- 
classes,  and  it  is  only  natural  that  neither 
should  care  to  press  home  too  closely  considera- 
tions which  might  in  any  way  alienate  from  it 
the  sympathies  and  support  of  the  trade  unionists. 
There  is,  consequently,  the  danger  that  if  the 
country  is  to  be  influenced  exclusively  by  the 
views  of  political  leaders  and  lieutenants,  it  may 
not  get  at  the  whole  of  the  truths  it  ought  to 


12  INTRODUCTION 

have  if  "  the  inquest  of  the  nation  "  is  to  result 
in  a  sufficiently  comprehensive  verdict. 

The  time  seems,  therefore,  to  be  especially 
opportune  for  the  re-publication,  in  collected 
form,  of  a  series  of  articles  in  which  there  was 
brought  together  so  large  an  array  of  facts 
bearing  on  the  questions  of  the  restriction  of 
output,  the  increased  cost  of  production,  the 
resort  to  picketing,  intimidation,  and  coercion, 
and  the  general  effect  of  the  more  militant  and 
unreasonable  phases  of  trade  union  rules  or 
practices  in  handicapping  British  industries.  No 
one  can  deny  the  bearing  of  all  these  things  on 
the  present  controversy,  and  if  they  are  to  remain 
unchecked  the  most  thorough-going  system  of 
fiscal  changes  that  even  Mr.  Chamberlain  could 
bring  about  would  not  suffice  to  re-establish  our 
industries  and  our  commerce  on  so  healthy  and 
so  prosperous  a  basis  as  they  ought  to  occupy. 

The  articles  in  question  were  originally  pub- 
lished at  a  time  when  a  good  deal  of  attention 
was  already  being  paid  to  the  questions  dealt 
with  therein.  Between  October  7,  1901,  and 
November  18,  when  the  first  article  appeared, 
Professor  Case,  Mr.  W.  Bramwell  Booth,  Mr. 
T.  V.  S.  Angier,  Mr.  Henry  Wilson,  Mr.  George 
T.  Hartley,  Mr.  C.  R.  Ashbee,  and  others, 
had  taken  part  in  a  discussion  in  the  columns 


DEFENDERS   OF  TRADE   UNIONISM        13 

of  The  Times  on  labour  problems  in  general, 
the  said  discussion  being  started  by  a  letter 
headed  "  The  Crisis  in  Labour "  from  Pro- 
fessor Case,  in  which  he  showed,  among  other 
things,  how  the  effect  on  capital  of  the  ex- 
isting labour  conditions  was  "  partly  its  gradual 
destruction  and  diversion  from  this  country,  but 
still  more  the  less-noticed  decrease  in  its  pro- 
ductiveness. We  reckon,"  he  said,  "  our  national 
capital  by  millions,  and  often  congratulate  our- 
selves on  its  increase,  but  forget  that  a  million 
now  means  much  less  in  the  way  of  interest. 
For  example,  the  problem  of  railway  directors, 
at  the  present  moment  is  how  to  save  out  of  a 
maximum  of  wages  a  minimum  of  dividend."  A 
still  more  vigorous  discussion  followed  the  publi- 
cation of  the  articles.  The  defence  of  trade 
unionism  "  as  an  institution  "  was  taken  up  by 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sidney  Webb  in  a  letter  published 
in  The  Times  on  December  6,  1901 ;  though  the 
object  of  the  articles  was,  in  point  of  fact,  not 
to  attack  trade  unionism  "  as  an  institution," 
but  to  deal,  rather,  with  the  abuses  that  had 
crept  into  an  organisation  which,  in  the  opinion 
of  many  employers,  should  occupy  a  legitimate 
and  even  useful  place  in  the  scheme  of  industrial 
progress,  so  long  as  it  is  directed  along  reason- 
able lines.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb  admitted  that, 


14  INTRODUCTION 

"  so  far  as  they  relate  to  the  instinctive  senti- 
ment of  a  manual  working  class,  employed  at 
time  wages,  we  believe  that  your  correspondent's 
charges  contain  much  truth  "  ;  but  they  held  it 
wrong  to  think  that  the  evil  of  "go-easy"  and 
kindred  practices  was  increasing,  or  was  due  to 
trade  unionism.  "  So  far,"  they  wrote,  "  from 
the  aggregate  product  being  less  per  head  and 
decreasing,  we  are  convinced,  on  the  evidence 
of  employers  themselves,  that  greater  sobriety, 
greater  regularity,  increased  intelligence,  and  im- 
proved methods  of  remuneration  make  the  manual 
labour  of  this  country  (irrespective  of  the  results 
of  machinery)  far  more  productive  to-day  than  it 
everwas  before."  They  further  declared  that  "  at 
the  present  time  the  influence  of  trade  unionism, 
considered  as  a  whole,  is  more  efficacious  in 
increasing  than  in  reducing  the  productivity  of 
the  labour  of  its  members."  On  December  20, 
1901,  a  further  statement  for  the  defence,  signed 
by  the  Management  Committee  (sixteen  in 
number)  of  the  General  Federation  of  Trade 
Unions,  was  published  in  The  Times.  It  set 
forth,  mainly,  "  the  legitimate  objects  of  trade 
unionism,  and  their  achievements  on  behalf  of 
labour  and  in  the  interests  of  the  community 
generally,"  and,  without  going  into  details,  it 
made  the  general  statement  that  the  Manage- 


A  QUESTION  OF  "  ABNoaE        ERTION  "     15 

ment  Committee  "  emphatically  denied  that  the 
practices  alleged  by  The  Times  writer  form 
any  part  of  trade  unionism."  On  the  question 
of  restriction  of  output  it  said  that  "  the  unions 
oppose  sweating  of  labour  by  unscrupulous 
employers,  and  resent  their  members  being 
goaded  into  abnormal  exertion  beyond  their 
strength  and  inconsistent  with  health  and  per- 
manent efficiency  "  ;  and  it  was  added,  "  The 
statement  that  the  unions  have  prevented  the 
introduction  of  labour-saving  machinery  or 
appliances  is  not  only  not  true,  but  absolutely 
the  reverse  of  truth."  The  former  of  these  two 
last-mentioned  assertions  —  as  to  the  unions  re- 
senting their  men  being  goaded  into  abnormal 
exertion  beyond  their  strength  —  was  distinctly 
entertaining,  in  view,  for  example,  of  the  remarks 
I  had  made  concerning  the  alleged  number  of 
bricks  laid  by  London  County  Council  brick- 
layers —  remarks  which  a  committee  of  the  London 
County  Council  took  four  months  to  investigate, 
and  then,  but  for  a  mere  quibble  as  to  the  actual 
figure  (the  addition  to  which  of  another  score  or 
so  would  not  have  altered  the  main  argument) 
practically  admitted  to  be  true.  As  regards  the 
question  of  labour-saving  machinery,  a  denial  of 
any  suggestion  that  the  unions  have  prevented 
the  introduction  of  such  machinery  does  not 


16  INTRODUCTION 

meet  the  whole  of  the  case,  because  it  was  part 
of  my  argument  that,  even  when  labour-saving 
machinery  had  been  introduced,  there  was  too 
often  a  disposition  either  not  to  work  it  to  its 
full  capacity,  or,  alternatively,  to  allow  one  man 
to  look  after  one  machine  only,  or  a  strictly 
limited  number  of  machines  (some  of  which, 
being  really  automatic,  required  practically  no 
minding  at  all) ;  with  the  result  that  the  em- 
ployers got  less  return  for  their  outlay  than  they 
ought  to  have,  and  the  cost  of  production,  even 
with  the  use  of  American  machinery,  was  greater 
in  this  country  than  it  would  be  in  America 
itself. 

Other  criticisms  to  which  the  articles  were 
subjected  related  chiefly  to  matters  of  detail  in 
regard  to  which  particular  statements  were 
challenged  ;  though  it  seems  to  me  that  a  much 
more  effective  reply  on  the  general  question 
might  have  been  made  if  the  critics  had  carried 
the  war  into  the  camp  of  the  employers,  by 
showing  from  the  abundant  evidence  procurable 
from  consular  reports  that,  whatever  the  parti- 
cular faults  and  short-comings  of  the  men 
and  their  leaders,  the  depression  which  had 
overtaken  British  industry  was  due  in  no  small 
degree  to  a  lack  both  of  enterprise  and  of 
efficient  methods  in  the  pushing  of  business  in 


THE   EXPANSION   OF  TRADE.  17 

foreign  countries.  What  is  now  wanted,  how- 
ever, is  not  an  exchange  of  recriminations,  but 
a  recognition  of  the  fact  that  the  trade  and 
commerce  of  the  United  Kingdom  must  hence- 
forward be  conducted  on  lines  that  will  allow  of 
their  fullest  possible  development  if  the  general 
progress  of  the  country  is  to  be  secured  in  the  face 
of  so  much  foreign  competition.  Whether  the 
conditions  described  in  the  following  pages  are 
due  directly,  indirectly,  or  not  at  all  to  trade 
union  rules  or  practices  becomes  itself  a  matter 
of  detail  from  the  standpoint  of  the  total  volume 
of  our  national  trade,  on  which,  however,  as 
everybody  must  see,  they  cannot  fail  to  have  a 
prejudicial  effect ;  and  trade  union  leaders  who 
disown  all  responsibility  for  such  conditions 
ought  to  be  the  first  to  do  all  they  can  to  get 
rid  of  them,  if  for  no  other  reason  than  to  ensure 
a  greater  demand  for  the  labour  of  those  they 
lead.  Yet  the  adverse  conditions  which,  from 
one  cause  or  another,  have  overtaken  so  many 
of  our  industries  are  such  that  it  would  be  un- 
wise to  expect  any  immediate  substantial  expan- 
sion in  the  amount  of  available  employment, 
whatever  the  nature  of  the  changes  it  may  still 
be  possible  to  effect. 

In   any   case,   however,   it  is   now   especially 
desirable  that  employers  and   employed   should 

2 


18  INTRODUCTION 

recognise  more  clearly  their  community  of 
interest,  and  seek  to  promote  both  their  own 
and  the  national  welfare  by  freeing  the  in- 
dustries and  the  commerce  of  the  land  as  far 
as  possible  from  every  restraint  or  difficulty 
that  may  in  any  way  retard  their  proper 
development.  This  need  will  remain,  what- 
ever view  may  be  taken  of  Mr.  Chamberlain's 
proposals  ;  and  it  will  still  remain  whether  those 
proposals  are  carried  out  or  not.  On  this 
point  one  cannot  insist  too  strongly.  Whatever 
political  leaders  may  or  may  not  be  able  to  do, 
there  is  much  that  employers  and  employed  can 
and  should  accomplish,  on  their  own  initiative, 
in  the  way  of  putting  their  mutual  relations 
on  a  better  footing,  and  no  more  favourable 
opportunity  for  bringing  about  such  a  result 
could  be  found  than  the  present  moment,  when 
the  whole  of  our  economic  conditions  are  sup- 
posed to  be  under  review.  Considering  that,  on 
the  one  hand,  the  most  prudent  of  the  trade 
unionists  of  the  country  are  opposed  to  the 
more  intolerant,  coercive,  and  restrictive  tactics 
which  have  been  resorted  to  from  time  to  time 
in  their  name ;  and  that,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
great  bulk  of  the  employers  are  either  willing  to 
work  in  harmony  with  the  trade  unions — so  long 
as  they  are  not  operated  on  aggressive  lines,— 


SCOPE   FOR  AN   UNDERSTANDING         19 

or,  while  not  giving  "  official "  recognition  to 
the  unions,  make  no  distinction  between  trade 
unionists  and  others,  there  ought  to  be  full  scope 
for  arriving  at  some  understanding  which  would 
so  far  improve  the  general  industrial  position  as 
either  to  decrease  the  need  for  tariff  reform,  if 
no  fiscal  changes  are  to  be  made,  or  else  to  clear 
the  way  for  greater  and  more  successful  efforts, 
on  the  part  alike  of  manufacturers  and  work- 
men, if  the  proposed  revolution  in  our  economic 
position  be  really  effected. 

EDWIN  A.    PRATT. 

LONDON, 

November,  1903. 


TRADE    UNIONISM  AND 
BRITISH  INDUSTRY 

«CA'   CANNY" 

THE  injurious  effect  that  trade  unionism  of 
the  more  aggressive  or  of  the  more  insidious 
type  may  exercise  on  the  trade  of  the  country 
is  a  question  of  very  grave  importance  at  a  time 
when  there  seem  to  be  so  many  difficulties  in 
the  conduct  of  our  industries,  especially  in  regard 
to  the  cost  of  production  and  to  foreign  com- 
petition. There  may  have  been  a  falling  off 
recently  in  the  number  of  labour  conflicts  of 
the  more  violent  type,  once  comparatively 
common.  But  against  this  apparent  improve- 
ment must  be  set  the  further  considerations 
that  there  are  industries  still  suffering  from  a 
loss  of  trade  transferred  to  other  countries  as 
the  result  of  trade  union  action  in  the  past ; 
that  there  are  employers  of  labour  who,  weary 
of  stoppages  of  work,  submit  to  the  exactions 
of  trade  unions  rather  than  fight  against  them, 
and  pass  the  financial  consequences  on  to  the 

21 


22  «CA'   CANNY" 

British  public  ;  and,  most  serious  of  all,  perhaps, 
that  the  "new"  unionism,  with  its  resort  to 
violence  and  intimidation,  has  in  turn  been 
succeeded  by  a  "  newer "  unionism,  which,  al- 
though working  along  much  quieter  lines,  is 
doing  even  more  serious  injury — -by  reason  of 
the  greater  difficulty  of  coping  with  it— alike  to 
trade,  to  industry,  and  to  the  individual  worker. 

This  "newer"  unionism  would  pass  among 
economists  under  the  courtesy  title  of  "  re- 
stricting the  output."  Among  trade  unionists 
of  the  Socialist  type,  who  have  no  regard  for 
courtesy  titles,  it  is  better  known  as  "Ca'  canny." 
It  got  this  nickname  during  the  shipping  troubles 
of  a  few  years  ago,  and  an  exposition  of  its 
principles  was  given  in  an  illustrated  article  pub- 
lished in  the  Seamen  s  Chronicle  of  October  24, 
1896: 

What  (asked  the  article)  is  CsC  canny  ?  It  is  a  simple 
and  handy  phrase  which  is  used  to  describe  a  new  in- 
strument or  policy  which  may  be  used  by  the  workers  in 
place  of  a  strike.  If  two  Scotsmen  are  walking  together, 
and  one  walks  too  quickly  for  the  other,  he  says  to  him, 
"  Ca'  canny,  mon,  csC  canny,"  which  means,  "  Go  easy, 
man,  go  easy." 

Then  the  article,  in  a  series  of  arguments, 
went  on  to  show  how,  when  a  person  buys  a 
hat,  a  shirt,  or  a  piece  of  beef,  he  gets  an  inferior 
article  or  a  less  quantity  for  a  lower  price,  and 


PASSIVE  RESISTERS  23 

it  argued  that  the  same  principle  should   apply 
in  regard  to  work  and  wages.     It  concluded : 

If  the  employers  persist  in  their  refusal  to  meet  the 
workmen's  representatives  in  order  to  discuss  the  demands 
sent  in,  the  workmen  can  retort  by  marking  the  ballot 
paper  in  favour  of  adopting  the  "  Ca'  canny,"  or  "  Go 
easy,"  policy  until  such  times  as  the  employers  decide  to 
meet  and  confer  with  the  men's  representatives. 

The  illustrations  accompanying  the  article  are 
four  in  number,  and  are  given  under  the  heading 
"  Ca'  canny.  How  to  work  for—  '  the  different 
rates  of  pay  specified.  "  £5  a  Month  "  shows  a 
seaman  putting  all  his  energy  into  pulling  a 
rope ;  with  "  £4  a  Month  "  a  second  man  has  to 
be  called  in ;  with  "  £3  10s.  a  Month  "  there  are 
three  men  at  the  rope,  two  of  them  smoking 
their  pipes  and  looking  the  picture  of  indiffer- 
ence ;  while  "  £3  a  Month  "  shows  four  men,  all 
asleep  on  deck,  with  the  rope  dangling  loose 
between  them. 

Such  is  the  principle  of  "  Ca'  canny,"  or 
otherwise  of  "restricting  the  output,"  which  is 
the  fundamental  principle  of  the  "  newer " 
unionism.  But  the  use  of  it  "  in  place  of  a 
strike  "  is  only  one  phase  of  the  application  of 
the  principle.  For  quite  a  different  reason,  "  Go 
easy"  is  to  become  the  policy  of  the  British 
working  man  in  general.  That,  at  least,  is  the 


24  "CA1   CANNY" 

aspiration  of  the  Socialist  labour  leaders  of  to- 
day. Men  are  not  to  put  forth  their  best 
powers.  They  must  work  in  such  a  way  that 
it  will  be  necessary  for  others  to  be  called  in  to 
help  on  the  work  they  would  otherwise  get 
through  themselves,  employment  being  thus 
found  for  the  largest  possible  number  of  hands. 
The  idea  has  found  favour  with  a  vast  number 
of  British  workers,  partly  out  of  consideration 
for  non-workers,  and  partly  because  it  may  suit 
their  natural  disposition.  But  in  its  original 
inception  there  was  much  more  in  it  than  this. 
It  was  hoped  to  "  absorb "  all  the  unemployed 
in  the  course  of  time,  not  by  the  laudable  and 
much-to-be-desired  means  of  increasing  the 
volume  of  trade,  and  hence,  also,  the  amount 
of  work  to  be  done,  but  simply  by  obtaining 
employment  for  a  larger  number  of  persons  on 
such  work  as  there  was  already.  The  motive 
of  this  aspiration,  however,  was  not  one  of 
philanthropy  pure  and  simple.  When  all  the 
unemployed  had  been  absorbed,  the  workers 
would  have  the  employers  entirely  at  their 
mercy,  and  would  be  able  to  command  such 
wages  and  such  terms  as  they  might  think  fit. 
The  general  adoption  of  the  eight  hours  system 
was  to  bring  in  a  certain  proportion  of  the 
unemployed  ;  if  there  were  still  too  many  left 


THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  SOCIALISTS          25 

the  eight  hours  system  was  to  be  followed  by 
a  six  hours  system  ;  while  if,  within  the  six,  or 
eight,  or  any  other  term  of  hours,  every  one 
took  things  easy  and  did  as  little  work  as  he 
conveniently  could,  still  more  openings  would 
be  found  for  the  remaining  unemployed,  and 
still  better  would  be  the  chances  for  the  Socialist 
propaganda.  That  such  a  "  restriction  "  of 
individual  output  as  was  involved  in  all  this 
would  send  up  the  cost  of  production  to  an 
extent  that  would  endanger  industries,  and  drive 
trade  out  of  the  country,  was  a  matter  of 
secondary  importance,  in  comparison  with  the 
result  that  the  Socialists  would  eventually 
become  masters  of  the  situation,  and  be  able 
to  nationalise  or  municipalise  whatever  they 
thought  fit. 

There  is  only  too  much  reason  to  fear  that, 
without  seeing  the  full  significance  of  the  move- 
ment, the  working  men  of  this  country  are 
adopting  the  "  ca'  canny,"  or  "  go  easy,"  principle 
so  generally,  that  this  mischief,  aided  by  the 
more  aggressive  forms  of  trade  unionism,  is 
eating  the  very  heart  out  of  British  industry. 
It  is  not  a  question  whether  or  not  a  man  is 
working  full  time — whatever  the  precise  limit 
of  that  time  may  be — but,  "Is  he  working  with 
his  full  energy  ? "  and  the  answer  is  that,  though 


26  "CA1   CANNY" 

there  is  a  universal  desire  for  a  fair  day's  pay 
(and  more,  if  it  can  be  got),  there  is  an  almost 
universal   unwillingness,  among   those  who   are 
subject  to   trade  union   influence,   to  do  a  fair 
day's  work.     A  man  may  be  employed  and  paid 
for  ten  hours,  but  there  is  a  steadily  growing 
disposition   to   put   into   those   ten    hours   only 
eight  hours'  real  effort,  while  those  engaged  for 
eight   hours   will   give  only  six   hours   of  their 
energy,  and  so  on.     From  trades  of  the  most 
varied  description  the  same  story  comes.     Not 
that  all  who  adopt  the  principle  do  so  willingly. 
There  are  innumerable  instances  of  men  anxious 
to   do   their   best  who   are  compelled   by  their 
fellows  to  do  as  little  as  they,  being  so  treated 
that   they   are   forced   to  abandon  any  idea   of 
doing   their   duty   to    their    employer,    and    of 
obeying   the  dictates   of  their   own  conscience. 
Neither  is  it  of  much  use  to  search  among  union 
rules   for   evidence   in   black   and  white  of  the 
formal  adoption  and  enforcement  of  a  principle 
which  has  thus  become  the  bane  of  our  industrial 
system.    The  average  trade  unionist  is  much  too 
'cute  a  person  to  offer  evidence  against  himself 
in  this  way,  even  though  the  Seamen  s  Chronicle 
did,  in  popular  parlance,  "give  away  the  show." 
The  more  prominent  leaders  would,  of  course, 
disavow   the  principle  ;   but,   though  they  may 


WHAT  THE  SYSTEM  MEANS.  27 

not  encourage  it  openly,  they  do  so  tacitly,  and 
their  subordinates,  "  shop  delegates,"  and  others, 
do  so  directly.  The  whole  system,  as  now  being 
worked,  is,  in  fact,  the  direct  outcome  of  trade 
unionism  coupled  with  advanced  Socialism.  In 
its  mildest  phase  it  takes  the  form  of  keeping 
the  strong,  efficient,  and  willing  worker  down 
to  the  productive  level  of  the  weakest  and  most 
inefficient ;  and  in  its  worst  aspect  it  amounts 
to  deliberate  cheating — that  is  to  say,  a  man 
accepts  wages  as  the  price  of  his  whole  capacity 
and  energy,  and  gives  only  a  half  or  two-thirds 
of  them  in  return. 


THE   BUILDING  TRADES 

IN  no  branch  of  industry,  perhaps,  has  this 
principle  of  restricting  the  output  been  more 
generally  adopted  than  in  that  represented  by 
the  building  trades.  There  are  other  conditions 
existing  in  those  trades  which  demand  attention 
as  well,  but  the  "go  easy"  policy  calls  for  first 
consideration.  Not  that  the  rules  of  the  men's 
societies  prescribe  any  such  policy.  It  is  a 
question  of  unwritten  law,  discussed  by  the  men 
when  their  lodge  meetings  are  over,  rather  than 
of  formal  rules  drawn  up  at  those  meetings 
themselves.  The  actual  rules  may,  indeed,  look 
as  innocent  as  the  multiplication  table ;  but 
when  one  comes  to  the  question  of  practices  that 
is  quite  a  different  matter.  For  instance,  there 
is  no  rule  as  to  the  precise  number  of  bricks  a 
man  shall  lay  in  the  course  of  his  day's  labour ; 
but  there  is  a  well-recognised  unwritten  law 
on  the  subject  which  a  bricklayer  will  disregard 
at  his  peril.  Twenty  years  ago  a  bricklayer 
would  lay  his  1,000  bricks  a  day  when  on 

28 


THE   ETHICS   OF  BRICKLAYING  29 

straightforward  work.  Thirty  years  ago  the 
bricklayers  employed  on  railway  tunnel  work 
in  London  laid  even  1,200  a  day.  But  the 
unwritten  law  now  in  force  declares  that  a 
bricklayer  engaged  even  on  plain  work  must "  go 
easy,"  and  not  lay  more  than  400  in  the  day. 
He  will  thus  not  only  avoid  compelling  those 
who  do  not  wish  to  do  more  to  go  faster,  but  he 
will  "  give  another  man  a  chance,"  by  helping  to 
render  it  necessary  for  more  hands  to  be  engaged. 
What  happens  if  he  should  exceed  this  quantity 
is  shown  by  a  story  which  is  given  on  the 
authority  of  a  master  builder.  At  one  of  his 
jobs  a  new  hand  who  possessed  all  the  energy 
of  youth  was  one  day  put  on,  and  he  showed 
himself  so  devoted  to  his  work  that  the  other 
bricklayers  were  dissatisfied,  and  counted  up  how 
many  bricks  he  had  laid  in  the  course  of  the 
day.  They  found  he  was  responsible  for  724. 
Such  zeal  as  that  could  not  be  tolerated,  and 
they  gave  him  to  understand  that  he  need  not 
turn  up  on  the  morrow,  as  they  would  not  have 
him  working  with  them.  The  young  man  com- 
plained to  the  foreman,  who  replied  that  he  was 
absolutely  helpless  in  the  matter,  but  would  put 
him  on  another  job.  This  was  done,  but  as  the 
young  man  started  afresh  at  the  same  pace 
as  before  he  had  a  repetition  of  his  previous 


30  THE   BUILDING   TRADES 

experience,  and  had  then  to  go  away  altogether. 
Such  interference  as  this  must  be  extremely 
galling  to  the  large  number  of  workmen  who 
desire  to  do  a  good  day's  work  for  their  wage, 
but  for  a  bricklayer  to  attempt  to  fight  against 
the  unwritten  law  in  question  means  that  he  will 
be  subjected  to  constant  annoyances,  that  his 
mates  will  be  "chipping"  at  him  all  the  time, 
that  complaints  will  be  trumped  up  against  him 
and  carried  to  the  foreman,  and  that  things 
generally  will  be  made  so  unpleasant  for  him 
that  he  will  be  forced  either  to  work  no  harder 
than  the  others  do,  or  to  go  elsewhere.  To 
show  how  difficult  the  position  of  a  foreman 
may  be  in  such  matters,  the  case  may  here  be 
mentioned  of  a  foreman  in  the  north  of  London 
who,  not  very  long  ago,  for  having  insisted  on 
the  bricklayers  under  him  doing  a  fair  day's 
work  for  their  money,  was  repeatedly  summoned 
before  the  lodge  of  his  society,  and  fined  5s.  on 
each  occasion,  for  so-called  "sweating." 

The  maximum  of  400  bricks  per  day  is  the 
"  recognised "  limit  for  dwelling-houses,  shops, 
and  business  premises  built  by  a  private  con- 
tractor. In  the  case  of  public  buildings,  and 
especially  London  County  Council  and  London 
School  Board  work,  the  limit  is  considerably 
less.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  the  London  County 


THE   L.C.C.    "LIMIT"  31 

Council,  especially,  with  its  direct  employment 
of  labour  and  its  strong  trade  union  sympathies, 
must  be  held  responsible  in  no  small  degree  for 
the  development  of  the  "go  easy"  practices  in 
the  building  trades  generally,  the  standard  set 
by  its  own  employes  being  regarded  as  one  which 
should  be  followed,  not  only  on  other  public 
work,  but  to  a  certain  extent  on  private  work 
also.  Thus  a  firm  of  contractors  had  a  job  on 
hand  in  the  East  End  of  London,  and  complaint 
was  made  to  certain  of  the  bricklayers — who  were 
engaged  on  some  straightforward  work  on  which 
they  could  easily  have  laid  from  600  to  700 
bricks  a  day — that  they  were  not  doing  enough. 
The  reply  they  gave  was :  "  The  London 
County  Council  limit  is  330  bricks  the  day. 
That  is  what  they  consider  a  fair  day's  work, 
and  we  are  not  going  to  do  more  for  you  or  any 
one  else."  But  this  330  limit  was  somewhat 
generous  for  public  work,  if  it  be  true,  as  affirmed 
by  one  authority,  that  in  the  case  of  a  certain 
Board  school  in  London  the  average  number  of 
bricks  laid  was  only  200  per  day.  Even  this 
figure,  too,  represents  activity  itself  compared 
with  still  another  school  built  for  the  London 
School  Board.  The  builder  thought  he  was 
paying  an  unconscionable  amount  for  labour, 
and  he  had  his  men  watched  for  some  days.  He 


32  THE   BUILDING  TRADES 

found  that  the  work  they  did  represented — an 
average  of  70  bricks  per  man  per  day  !  This 
particular  builder  could  very  well  have  followed 
the  example  of  the  contractor  who,  going  to  see 
how  his  job  was  progressing,  remarked  to  the 
foreman,  "  I  don't  think  we  need  measure  up  the 
work.  We'll  count  the  bricks." 

Had  there  been  any  decrease  of  wages  in  the 
building  trades  there  might  have  been  some 
excuse  for  the  adoption  of  "go  easy "  principles. 
But  the  contrary  is  the  fact.  The  wages  have 
gone  up  substantially  of  late  years,  but,  as 
already  shown,  instead  of  more  work  being  done 
for  the  extra  money,  there  is  less.  The  com- 
bined effect  on  the  cost  of  labour  has  been  such 
that,  whereas  a  plain  wall  could  have  been  put 
up  ten  years  ago  for  from  £12  to  £14  per  rod 
(272  feet),  such  a  wall  would  now  cost  from  £20 
to  £22  per  rod.  Allowance  must,  of  course,  be 
made  for  the  increased  cost  of  bricks,  though 
10  per  cent,  of  this  increase  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  brickmakers  adopt  similar  tactics  to 
the  bricklayers ;  but  the  average  cost  of  labour 
alone  in  brickwork  (exclusive  of  pointing)  has 
increased  from  £3  to  £6  per  rod  in  the  last 
ten  years,  and  even  this  figure  is  sometimes  ex- 
ceeded. One  master  builder  in  London,  noticing 
how  slowly  the  work  on  a  particular  job  was 


HOW  THE  BUILDER'S  MONEY  GOES       S3 

proceeding,  spoke  about  it  to  the  foreman,  and 
said  he  would  like  to  find  out  how  much  the 
bricklaying  was  costing  him  per  rod.  The  men 
had  seen  the  two  conversing,  but  had  not  actually 
heard  what  was  said.  They  concluded,  however, 
as  they  told  the  foreman,  that  "the  guv'nor 
wasn't  satisfied,"  and  not  one  of  them  came  back 
to  work  next  day.  The  desired  calculation  was 
made,  and  it  was  found  that  the  actual  work  of 
bricklaying  was  costing  £9  per  rod,  or  one  half- 
penny per  brick. 

As  a  combined  illustration  of  lazy  working, 
excessive  cost  of  labour,  and  a  resort  to  in- 
timidation on  the  part  of  the  men  when  the 
employer  seeks  to  protect  his  own  interests,  no 
better,  or,  rather,  no  worse,  example  could  well 
be  given  than  that  represented  by  an  incident 
which  occurred  in  connection  with  a  certain  East- 
end  job  so  recently  as  the  middle  of  October. 
During  the  course  of  one  particular  week  there 
were  engaged  on  the  job  in  question  24  brick- 
layers and  24  labourers  each  day.  The  wages 
paid  to  the  bricklayers  for  their  week's  work 
amounted  to  £61  9s.  4d,  and  those  to  the 
labourers  £36  14s.  Wd.,  making  a  total  of 
£98  4s.  2d.  The  amount  of  work  done  for  this 
sum  was  43  cubic  yards,  representing  a  cost  of 
nearly  £20  per  rod  for  bricklaying  alone.  Some 

8 


34  THE   BUILDING   TRADES 

of  the  men  were  discharged,  but  six  or  seven 
of  them  returned  the  following  day,  and,  finding 
that  other  men  had  been  engaged  in  their  place, 
they  committed  a  savage  assault  on  the  new- 
comers, one  of  whom  was  seriously  injured. 
Two  of  the  assailants  were  taken  into  custody 
by  the  police,  and  later  in  the  day  were  convicted 
by  a  magistrate  and  committed  to  prison,  one 
of  them  for  seven  days  and  the  other  for  one 
month.  Up  to  the  present  the  contractors  in 
question  have  shown  no  partiality  in  the  employ- 
ment of  non-union  men,  but  they  have  caused 
it  to  be  understood  that,  if  the  state  of  things 
suggested  by  the  above  incident  should  continue, 
they  will  take  measures  to  protect  themselves 
against  such  tyranny. 

It  is  not  against  the  bricklayers  alone  that 
complaints  of  "go  easy  "  practices  are  brought. 
From  the  navvy  who  digs  the  foundations,  to 
the  painter  who  puts  on  the  last  coat  of  varnish, 
all  the  men  engaged  in  the  building  trades  are 
declared  to  be  "tarred  with  the  same  brush" 
in  regard  to  doing  less  work  for  more  money, 
especially  where  there  is  any  lack  of  proper 
supervision.  And  unfortunately,  unless  he 
makes  up  his  mind  to  resort  to  exclusively  non- 
union labour,  the  average  master  builder  is 
practically  at  the  mercy  of  his  men.  How  they 


DOORS  FROM  SWEDEN  35 

will  leave  a  job  if  they  even  suspect  him  of 
complaining  has  already  been  shown,  and  other 
instances  might  be  added.  If  he  himself  should 
turn  off  one  man  for  "  going  easy  "  and  put  on 
another  in  his  place,  the  chances  are  that  the 
second  man  will  be  no  better  than  the  first. 
His  opportunities,  too,  of  finding  relief  in  foreign 
competition  are  limited,  though  he  makes  use 
of  those  that  present  themselves.  Thus,  an 
enormous  trade  has  developed  in  ready-made 
doors  from  Sweden,  for  the  simple  reason  that 
they  can  be  brought  here  and  sold  at  9s.  6d.9 
while  the  same  class  of  door  made  in  England 
with  similar  machinery  to  that  employed  in 
Sweden  would  cost  13s.  6d.  When  the  Asso- 
ciated Society  of  Carpenters  and  Joiners  found, 
some  years  ago,  that  the  masters  were  availing 
themselves  of  foreign  help  to  overcome  the 
tactics  of  that  union,  it  called  a  strike  in  order 
to  compel  the  builders  not  to  use  Swedish  doors, 
but  the  attempt  failed.  A  substantial  trade 
has  also  sprung  up  of  late  years  in  Swedish 
window  sashes  and  frames,  to  the  further 
detriment  of  our  own  carpentering  trade,  while 
architrave  mouldings  for  doors  and  window 
frames  are  brought  from  Sweden  and  exten- 
sively sold  here  at  one-third  the  cost  of  English 
mouldings. 


36  THE  BUILDING  TRADES 

In  these  directions  the  builder  who  is  not 
engaged  on  really  first-class  work  can  obtain  a 
certain  set-off  against  English  rates  of  labour, 
but  his  general  position  is  that  of  being  handi- 
capped all  round.  Thus,  he  has  not  only  direct 
troubles  in  dealing  with  his  own  men,  but  in- 
direct worries  owing  to  disputes  and  rivalries 
among  the  different  unions.  The  disputes  more 
especially  take  the  form  of  counter-claims  to 
particular  classes  of  work,  in  which  case  it  is 
not  uncommon  for  each  union  to  tell  the  em- 
ployer that  if  he  gives  way  to  the  other  all  its 
members  will  be  called  out  on  all  the  jobs  he 
has  on  hand.  Some  of  the  disputes  take  place 
over  work  which  might  fairly  be  claimed  by 
either  party ;  but  others  show  an  evident  desire 
on  the  part  of  a  powerful  union  to  crush  a 
weaker  one  out  of  existence,  and  secure 
additional  advantages  for  its  own  members 
thereby. 

Here  is  an  interesting  story,  in  three  chapters, 
told  in  the  "  Minutes  of  Proceedings  "  of  the 
Annual  Movable  General  Council  of  the  Opera- 
tive Bricklayers'  Society,  the  name  of  the  firm 
in  question  being,  however,  omitted.  These 
Minutes  of  Proceedings  are  not  supposed  to 
meet  the  eye  of  an  outsider,  but  that  is  a  matter 
of  detail : 


MORAL   SUASION  37 

MEETING,  Saturday,  October  7,  1899. 

Camberwell  Branch  reported  they  have  struck  Messrs. 

's  job,  in ,  as  they  persisted  in  employing  other 

than  bricklayers  pointing  there.  They  desire  council's 
sanction  to  pay  the  pickets  the  current  rate,  and  as  the 
job  jn is  nearly  finished,  and  consequently  the  pres- 
sure will  not  be  very  heavy  on  the  firm  unless  their  other 
jobs  are  struck,  therefore  they  desire  council's  sanction 
to  do  so. 

Moved  by  Bros.  Stock  and  Skipp : 

"  That  the  Camberwell  Branch  be  instructed  to  strike 
the  whole  of  Messrs. 's  jobs  in  the  metropolitan  dis- 
trict, and  the  pickets  engaged  in  this  dispute  be  paid  the 
current  rate,  the  amount  beyond  strike  and  picket  pay  to 
be  defrayed  from  London  district  levy  fund." 

Carried. 

MEETING,  Monday,  October  9,  1899. 

Messrs.    informed    council    that    the    L.M.B.A. 

(London  Master  Builders1  Association)  are  of  opinion 
that  the  action  taken  with  that  firm  is  distinctly  unfair 
and  unwarranted  under  the  circumstances ;  they  have, 
however,  decided  to  discharge  the  men  complained  of, 
and  they  left  the  work  on  the  5th  inst. ;  they  therefore 
desire  the  removal  of  the  pickets  from  their  works. 

Moved  by  Bros.  Skipp  and  Newlove : 

"  That  a  conference  with  Messrs. be  arranged  for 

Thursday  next,  and  Bros.  Purdy  and  Lovatt  be  appointed 
delegates  to  meet  them." 

Carried. 

MEETING,  Thursday,  October  12,  1899. 

Bros.    Lovatt   and   Purdy   reported   as    deputed, — We 

attended  Messrs. 's  office  this  morning  re  others  than 

bricklayers  doing  pointing  at .     Mr. stated  that 

the  men  complained  of  had  been  removed,  and  that  he 


38  THE   BUILDING   TRADES 

was  prepared  to  conform  to  the  metropolitan  working 
rules  on  all  his  jobs  in  future,  and  wished  the  pickets  to 
be  withdrawn  as  soon  as  possible. 

Moved  by  Bros.  Richards  and  Newlove  : 

"That  the  delegates1  report  of  their  mission  to  

be  received,  and  Bro.  Lovatt's  expenses,  !&?.,  be  paid.*" 

Carried. 

Moved  by  Bros.  Mason  and  Stock  : 

"  That  Messrs. having  given  satisfactory  assur- 
ance as  to  the  conduct  of  their  works  in  future,  the 
strike  against  that  firm  be  closed  forthwith,  and  the 
pickets  withdrawn." 

Carried. 

There  is,  on  the  whole,  more  toleration  of 
non-union  labour  in  the  building  trades  than 
was  formerly  the  case,  but  in  many  instances 
the  non-unionist  is  still  subjected  to  systematic 
annoyance,  and  even  to  persecution  at  the  hands 
of  the  unionists  when  they  can  resort  to  such 
practices  without  danger  to  themselves.  It  is, 
however,  not  only  the  non-unionist  who  suffers. 
There  are  hundreds  of  men  who  have  joined 
their  union,  partly  under  compulsion,  but  also 
because  of  the  benefits  that  seemed  to  be  assured 
to  them.  Many  of  these  men  are  known  to 
have  paid  in  their  subscriptions  for  a  period  of 
twenty  years  or  so,  and  such  men  may  be  looking 
forward  to  benefits  which  amount  practically  to 
old-age  pensions.  One  can  imagine,  therefore, 
the  position  of  a  man  when  told  that  he  must 


THE  FORFEITING   OF  BENEFITS          39 

either  obey  some  order  of  the  union — such  as 
one  to  leave  the  service  of  a  respected  employer 
—or  else  be  driven  out  of  the  union,  and  thereby 
forfeit  the  whole  of  the  benefits  for  which  he 
has  been  subscribing  for  twenty  years,  and  all 
the  provision  he  has  been  making  for  old  age. 
Whether  or  not  a  trade  union  has  any  right  to 
do  this  sort  of  thing  is  a  question  that  must 
be  left  to  those  who  are  learned  in  the  law  ;  but 
one  thing  certain  is  that  a  working  man  cannot 
be  expected  to  fight  out  the  matter  with  his 
union,  and  in  some  very  shameful  cases  that  have 
occurred  the  men  have  seen  no  alternative  but 
to  surrender  to  the  despotic  commands  of  the 
union  officials. 

Still  another  class  of  troubles  is  represented  by 
an  incident  that  occurred  at  Bath,  where  100 
masons  and  bricklayers  left  a  job  rather  than 
work  with  five  society  men  who  had  not  paid 
certain  penalties  imposed  on  them,  the  strikers 
insisting  that  either  the  men  should  pay  up  or 
the  firm  should  discharge  them.  The  five  would 
not  pay,  the  firm  would  not  discharge  them,  and 
so  the  100  struck  work,  and  remained  out  until 
the  local  officials  ordered  them  to  return. 


EFFECT   ON   HOUSE   PROPERTY 

As  the  outcome  of  all  these  disputes,  rivalries, 
and  squabbles  among  the  men  themselves,  a 
further  augmentation  in  the  cost  of  production 
takes  place,  the  figure  eventually  reached  being 
far  above  that  for  which  the  building  ought  to 
have  been  erected.  When  possible,  the  builder 
naturally  seeks  to  recover  the  increased  expenses 
from  his  patrons,  or  from  what  the  operatives 
evidently  regard  as  the  bottomless  purse  of  the 
British  ratepayer  ;  so  that  eventually  it  is  the 
public  who  pay.  Sometimes,  however,  a  builder 
will  find  his  calculations  quite  upset  by  the 
vagaries  of  the  labour  world,  as  in  the  case  of 
one  who  had  reckoned  on  a  good  profit  from 
building  a  bank  in  London,  his  contract  standing 
at  a  substantial  figure,  but  who  eventually  found 
himself  £1,500  to  the  bad.  When  the  specu- 
lative builder  feels  that  he  must  not  exceed  a 
certain  outlay  he  is  under  a  strong  inducement 
to  guard  against  loss  by  building  in  the  jerry- 
built  style  of  which  so  much  is  heard  ;  and  here, 
again,  it  is  the  public  who  suffer.  They  suffer, 

40 


WHY  RENTS   ARE   GOING   UP  41 

too,  in  common  with  the  building-trade  operatives 
themselves,  through  the  increase  of  rents,  and 
this  increase  affects  not  only  new  buildings 
which  have  cost  more  to  erect  than  they  should 
have  done,  but  others  which,  owing  to  the 
increase  in  wages  and  the  "  go  easy  "  system  of 
working,  cost  more  for  repairs.  A  landlord  who 
has  twice  raised  the  rents  of  his  small  house 
property  by  one  shilling  during  the  past  ten 
years,  and  has  increased  those  of  middle  class 
property  from,  say,  £45  to  £48,  declares  that  the 
extra  charge  is  swallowed  up  by  what  it  costs 
him  more  to  keep  the  houses  in  proper  con- 
dition ;  so  here,  again,  it  is  the  public  who  pay. 
The  building  trade  mechanic  who  has  secured 
another  5s.  a  week  wages  for  doing  less  work 
grumbles  if  he  is  called  on  to  give  a  shilling  a 
week  more  for  rent ;  but  he  is  not  so  heavily  hit 
as  the  labourer  who  earns  only  3s.  a  week  more 
and  must  also  pay  the  extra  shilling  ;  while  neither 
has  so  much  right  to  complain  as  the  average 
professional  man,  who  wrorks  as  hard  as  ever  for 
a  stationary  salary,  and  must  meet  the  additional 
expenses  which  mechanic  and  labourer  have  com- 
bined to  bring  upon  him,  without  his  having  the 
chance  of  gaining  any  benefit  whatever  in  return. 
An  effective  remedy  for  the  present  state  of 
things  in  the  building  trade  will  not  be  easy  to 


42  EFFECT   ON   HOUSE   PROPERTY 

find.    That  trade  includes  so  many  small  masters, 
represents  so  many  different  branches,  each  with 
its   separate  union   among  the   men,  and  is  so 
much  subject  to  local  influences,  that  the  oppor- 
tunities for  the  occurrence  of  troubles  are  ex- 
ceptionally   numerous.      If    the  whole    of   the 
masters  could  show  as  much  backbone  as  certain 
individuals  among  them  do,   and  if,  improving 
still  further  on  their  present  combinations,  they 
formed  a  solid  and  compact  body,  through  which 
individual  losses  sustained  in  the  interests  of  the 
whole   trade  'would  be  met  out  of  a  common 
fund,  there  would  be  a  better  chance  of  over- 
coming trade   union   tactics,  and  the   arbitrary 
powers  of  the  unions  would,  as  one  man  has  put 
it,  "  tumble  to  pieces   like   a  house  of  cards." 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  feared  that  as  long  as 
municipal  bodies  like  the  London  County  Council 
remain   what   they   are — their  labour  members, 
returned  by  extremely  active   labour   organisa- 
tions,  getting   the   controlling   voice  on  labour 
questions,    and   playing   into  the  hands  of  the 
trade  union  workers,  who  fix  a  standard,  as  it 
were,  which  the  employes  of  other  public  bodies, 
and  of  private  contractors  as  well,  are  becoming 
more  and  more  disposed  to  accept, — so  long  will 
it  be  practically  impossible  to  place  the  trade  on 
a  satisfactory  footing. 


THE   ENGINEERING   TRADES 

THE  position  in  the  engineering  trades  has  greatly 
improved  since  the  dispute  of  four  years  ago,  the 
effects  of  the  famous  agreement  then  arrived  at 
having  been  most  beneficial  to  the  employers, 
while   they  have  also  conferred  advantages  on 
the  employed,  and   have   exercised  a  good  in-1 
fluence  on  other  trades  in  the  country  as  well. 
The  conditions  laid  down  by  the  agreement  were 
at  the  time  regarded  as  the  harsh  terms  of  a 
remorseless  conqueror ;  yet  since  then  the  men's 
society  has  prospered  more  than  it  ever  did  be- 
fore, and  the  men  individually  have  been  getting 
better  returns.     The  agreement  established  the 
great  principle  of  freedom  alike  for  the  employer 
and  for  the  employed.     The  employer  was  to  be 
free  in  the  making  of  such  arrangements  as  might 
be  suitable  for  the  management  and  efficiency 
of  his  shops  ;  he  was  to  be  free  to  appoint  what 
men  he  chose  to  take  charge  of  the  machines, 
and  to  engage  trade  unionists  or  non-unionists 
as  he  thought  fit.     The  employed,  in  his  turn, 

43 


44  THE  ENGINEERING  TRADES 

was  to  exercise  his  own  discretion  whether  he 
joined  a  trade  union  or  not.  Altogether,  as  the 
direct  result  of  this  agreement,  there  has  not 
been  a  single  cessation  of  work  of  any  moment 
during  four  years  of  unexampled  prosperity. 
Differences  of  opinion,  more  or  less  serious,  have 
certainly  arisen,  but  these  have  been  settled  by 
representatives  of  both  sides  without  mediation. 
As  an  illustration  of  the  spirit  that  now  prevails, 
it  may  be  mentioned  that,  while  the  old  rule  of 
"  one  man,  one  machine  "  is  still  maintained,  there 
are  shops  where  the  subterfuge  is  accepted  by 
the  men  of  putting  two  machines  on  one  bed, 
or  of  grouping  a  set  of  tools  together,  and  in 
each  case  regarding  them  as  one  machine.  Such, 
indeed,  is  the  improvement  that,  when  one  em- 
ployer was  asked  what  was  the  position  now, 
as  compared  with  the  state  of  things  at  the  time 
of  the  dispute,  he  replied,  "  Oh,  it's  just  like 
heaven."  Without  assuming  any  responsibility 
for  the  accuracy  of  this  comparison,  one  may, 
at  least,  declare  that  the  engineering  employers 
are  better  able  to  meet  competition  now  than 
they  were  before.  Thus,  one  of  them  who,  when 
the  old  restrictions  were  in  full  force,  found  he 
was  being  undersold  by  Germans,  who  were  dis- 
posing of  their  goods  in  the  next  county,  can 
now  not  only  hold  his  own  at  home,  but  is  even 


THE   ADVENT   OF  NEW   IDEAS  45 

able  to  compete  with  the  Germans  in  their 
own  country  ;  and  this,  too,  though  he  is  em- 
ploying no  larger  number  of  hands,  and  is 
paying  no  more  for  wages  in  proportion  to  the 
work  done. 

Thus  far  all  is  satisfactory,  and  it  is  gratifying 
to  be  able  to  throw  a  little  light  into  a  narrative 
of  industrial  conditions  that  contains  so  much 
shade.  Yet  truth  compels  the  statement  that, 
while  the  leaders  of  the  men  employed  in  the 
engineering  trades  are  beginning  to  see  more 
clearly  how  the  interests  of  the  employed  are 
bound  up  with  those  of  the  employers,  and  to 
understand  the  real  nature  of  the  conditions 
which  the  latter  have  to  face,  these  newer  ideas 
and  this  broader  knowledge  have  not  yet  per- 
meated the  general  mass  of  the  men.  Thus  it 
has  been  found  necessary,  for  example,  in  engin- 
eering shops  where  non-unionists  are  engaged  on 
certain  portions  of  the  work,  to  locate  them  in 
parts  of  the  premises  where  they  are  practically 
shut  off,  and  are  so  guarded  that  no  trade  unionist 
can  get  to  them.  This  is  especially  the  case 
where  new  methods  have  been  introduced,  re- 
quiring new  tools  or  the  alteration  of  existing 
ones.  The  old  hands  belonging  to  the  "  skilled  " 
class  took  so  unkindly  to  these  new  methods  that 
complete  failure  was  experienced,  until  unskilled 


46  THE   ENGINEERING  TRADES 

men  were  brought  in  from  the  street,  put  where 
the  old  hands  could  not  get  to  them,  and 
taught  what  to  do.  The  resort  to  this  expedient 
has  been  a  marked  success,  better  work  being 
turned  out  without  either  harassing  conditions 
on  the  one  side  or  sweating  on  the  other.  But 
direct  encouragement  is  thus  being  given  to 
engineering  employers  to  rely  more  and  more 
on  non-unionists  in  regard  to  certain  classes 
of  work,  of  which  the  unionists  at  one  time 
exclusively  engaged  on  them  were  undoubtedly 
restricting  the  output. 

Although,  in  fact,  there  have  been  the  im- 
provements already  spoken  of  in  the  relations 
of  employers  and  employed  in  the  engineering 
trade,  there  is  still  too  great  a  prejudice  on 
the  part  of  the  workers  against  labour-saving 
machinery,  still  too  great  a  reluctance  to  work 
with  full  energy  (in  each  case  owing  to  the 
desire  of  the  workman  either  not  to  over-exert 
oneself  or  to  "  leave  something  for  others  "),  and 
still  too  great  a  need  for  hearty  co-operation  and 
for  a  recognition  of  a  community  of  interests 
between  masters  and  men.  Competition  from 
abroad  is  becoming  more  and  more  active.  The 
Canadian  Pittsburg  which  is  springing  up  at 
Sydney,  Cape  Breton,  is  already  sending  pig-iron 
into  this  country  at  the  rate  of  5,000  tons  a 


A    CANADIAN   OBJECT    LESSON  47 

week,  most  of  it  going  to  Glasgow  and  under- 
selling home  makers ;  the  extensive  plant  for 
steel  works  at  Sydney  is  now  ready  ;  and  the 
rail  works  there  were  to  be  finished  by  the  middle, 
or  towards  the  end,  of  1902.  By  that  time  the 
companies  concerned  were  expected  to  be  in  a  fair 
way  to  effect  something  like  a  revolution  in  the 
iron  and  steel  industry, — thanks  to  the  advantages 
they  possess  in  the  co-existence  of  almost  illi- 
mitable coal,  ironstone,  and  limestone  supplies 
on  navigable  ocean  harbours  ;  the  lower  cost  at 
which  they  can  "  assemble  "  materials  at  Sydney 
for  iron  and  steel,  as  compared  with  Pittsburg 
and  other  centres  ;  the  possession  by  them  of 
new  works  replete  with  all  the  inventions  and 
labour-saving  appliances  that  the  ingenuity  of 
man  has  yet  devised  for  these  particular  trades ; 
the  comparative  nearness  of  Sydney  to  the 
world's  markets  ;  and  the  bonuses  granted  by  the 
Dominion  Government  (in  addition  to  other 
advantages)  to  allow  of  those  markets  being 
reached  at  less  cost.  Then,  again,  steel  castings 
can  be  bought  here  from  German  makers  for 
less  than  they  cost  when  made  not  twenty 
miles  from  the  place  where  they  are  wanted, 
and  the  same  is  true  of  German  steel  ship- 
plates. 

In  the  opinion  of  some,  at  least,  of  the  practical 


48  THE   ENGINEERING  TRADES 

men  who  have  had  to  face  the  whole  problem, 
foreign  competition  such  as  this  can  be  met  only 
by  improved  systems  of  working,  and  especially 
by  a  system  which  will  get  rid  of  lingering  re- 
strictions, allow  of  the  introduction  of  every 
possible  mechanical  improvement,  and  encourage 
the  men  to  co-operate  loyally  with  their  em- 
ployers, working  with  their  full  energy  and 
producing  the  best  results — a  system  which  will, 
in  effect,  allow  two  tons  to  be  produced  at  the 
same  cost  as  is  now  required  to  produce  one. 
This  is  the  conviction,  too,  not  only  of  engineer- 
ing employers,  but  of  a  prominent  trade  unionist 
who  recently  visited  some  Continental  ironworks, 
and  returned  full  of  astonishment  at  what  he  had 
seen,  declaring  that,  unless  some  such  lines  as 
those  here  indicated  were  followed,  we  were 
bound  to  fall  behind.  And  the  first  step  to  be 
taken  towards  securing  the  improved  system  in 
question  is  to  convince  the  workers  of  the  folly 
of  their  opposition  to  labour-saving  appliances, 
and  to  show  them  that  such  appliances,  though 
they  may  necessitate  a  certain  rearrangment  of 
labour,  never  fail  to  increase  the  total  volume 
of  work,  and  hence,  also,  the  total  number  of 
workers.  When  the  whole  range  of  "  go  easy  " 
fallacies  has  been  swept  away,  and  a  greater 
recognition  of  the  community  of  interest  between 


THE   OUTLOOK  FOR  THE   FUTURE       49 

employer  and  employed  is  brought  about,  the 
engineering  trades  will  follow  up  with  a  still 
more  pronounced  progress  the  improvements 
which  the  last  four  years  have  already  secured 
to  them. 


BOILERMAKING  AND  SHIPBUILDING 

FROM  the  engineering  trades  to  boilermaking 
is  a  natural  transition,  but  the  lighter  shades 
to  be  found  in  the  former  are  absent  from  the 
latter,  which  must  be  painted  in  dark,  if  not 
gloomy,  colours.  With  boilermaking  is  asso- 
ciated iron  and  steel  shipbuilding,  and  in  neither 
branch  of  industry  does  freedom  of  employment 
exist,  while  restrictions  of  all  kinds  are  the  order 
of  the  day.  It  is,  for  example,  no  unusual  thing 
for  foremen  who  seek  to  promote  the  interests 
of  their  employers  to  receive  letters  telling  them 
that,  if  they  persist  in  doing  certain  things,  they 
will  have  to  render  an  account  to  the  union,  to 
which  they  are  compelled  to  belong ;  and  there 
are  numerous  instances  in  which  foremen  who 
have  given  orders  to  the  workmen  during  the 
day  have  had  to  appear  before  those  very  same 
workmen  at  a  meeting  of  the  society  in  the 
evening,  and  receive  judgment  at  their  hands  for 
something  or  other  of  which  the  men  have  dis- 
approved. How  in  these  conditions  discipline 

50 


CONTROLLING   THE   MACHINES  51 

can  be  maintained  it  is  difficult  to  imagine.  At 
present  the  men  are  practically  supreme.  They 
are  the  most  highly  paid,  and  they  are  the  most 
irregular  workers,  of  any  in  the  whole  trade. 
Riveters  could  make  £l  a  day  if  they  really 
tried,  but  they  are  content  to  earn  from  12s. 
to  15s.,  and,  as  the  effect  of  their  high  pay,  at 
least  one-third  of  their  time  is  wilfully  lost.  On 
the  Monday,  Tuesday,  and  Wednesday,  especially, 
after  each  pay-day,  the  streets  and  the  public- 
houses  in  the  shipbuilding  centres  will  be  filled 
with  idle  men,  and  the  monthly  report  of  their 
society  is  most  persistent  in  exhorting  the  men 
to  give  up  their  dissolute  habits  and  respect  their 
employers'  interests  by  keeping  to  work. 

Even  when  they  are  at  work  the  amount  of 
their  output  is  less  than  it  should  be,  for  the 
boilermakers  control  the  machines,  and  they 
resist  the  introduction  of  the  new  tools  and 
methods  which  are  now  almost  universal  in  the 
United  States.  There  are  certain  machines,  for 
instance,  which  are  being  introduced  into 
American  shipbuilding  yards  at  the  rate  of  1,200 
per  month ;  but,  when  it  is  sought  to  establish 
them  here,  objections  will  be  raised  either  to 
their  being  used  at  all,  or  to  their  being  worked 
by  the  same  class  of  men  as  on  the  other  side 
of  the  Atlantic  ;  while,  if  it  is  agreed  to  use 


52      BOILERMAKING  AND  SHIPBUILDING 

the  machines,  the  output  will  be  restricted  to 
the  same  amount  as  would  be  done  by  hand, 
and  the  demand  will  be  made,  not  only  that  the 
same  rate  of  pay  shall  be  given,  but  that  the 
same  number  of  men  shall  be  put  on  as  if  the 
work  were  being  done  by  hand,  tlfe  result  being 
that  one  man  in  three  will  have  nothing  to  do 
but  watch  two  others  do  the  work.  In  the 
United  States  the  use  of  these  very  machines 
enables  the  shipbuilders  to  effect  a  saving  of 
from  30  to  60  per  cent,  in  the  cost  of  labour. 
Here,  owing  to  the  restrictions  imposed,  there 
will  be  no  saving  on  them  at  all. 

What  with  the  waste  of  time  by  these 
autocrats  of  the  British  shipbuilding  yards,  and 
what  with  the  restrictions  imposed  on  their  out- 
put when  they  are  at  work,  it  is  not  surprising 
to  find  that  long  delays  sometimes  occur  in  the 
execution  of  orders.  There  are  vessels  which 
have  had  to  wait  periods  of  nine  months  or 
more  for  their  riveting,  and  shipbuilders  lose 
orders  because  of  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
guaranteeing  delivery.  An  immense  industry, 
which  has  been  growing  by  leaps  and  bounds 
during  the  last  twenty  years,  is  seriously 
hampered,  partly  because  there  are  not  enough 
men  to  do  the  work,  and  partly  because  the  men 
there  are  do  not  turn  out  the  work  they  could. 


WHERE  THE  MEN  ARE   MASTERS        53 

The  unsophisticated  outsider  would  naturally 
ask,  "  Why  not  put  on  more,  or  others  ?  "  Such 
a  solution  would  seem  to  be  the  natural  one, 
but  the  rule  of  the  men's  union  -is  that  no  one 
shall  become  a  boilermaker  until  he  has  served 
his  apprenticeship,  and  the  general  policy  is  to 
restrict  the  number  of  apprentices  to  the  lowest 
possible  limit.  This  particular  evil  is  declared 
to  be  growing  worse  every  day.  The  boiler- 
makers  have  got  a  good  trade,  and  they  want  to 
keep  it  in  a  few  hands.  They  want,  especially, 
so  to  curtail  the  proportions  of  the  labour  supply 
in  their  particular  industry  that  they  can  depend, 
on  work  being  obtained  by  every  man  on  their 
books.  In  this  way  employers  are  bound  to 
give  jobs  to  profligate  or  almost  worthless  men, 
who  would  speedily  find  their  level  if  there  were 
freedom  of  labour ;  and  they  are  bound,  also,  to 
keep  on  paying  a  high  rate  of  wages  to  one  and 
all,  owing  to  the  artificial  scarcity  of  the  supply. 
All  this  time  there  will  be  strong,  vigorous  men 
at  the  yard  gates  or  within  call,  longing  to  have 
the  chance  of  doing  an  honest  day's  work  in 
order  to  support  their  families,  and  the  ship- 
builders may  be  filled  with  anxiety  because 
those  who  should  be  at  work  are  walking  about 
the  streets  ;  but,  though  the  men  at  the  gates 
could  readily  be  taught  the  business,  they  must 


54      BOILERMAKING  AND  SHIPBUILDING 

not  be  called  in  because  it  would  be  contrary  to 
trade  union  rules.  The  employment  of  a  single 
man  who  had  not  served  his  apprenticeship,  or 
was  not  a  recognised  member  of  the  union, 
would  bring  all  the  unionists  out  on  strike. 

So  the  work  in  British  shipbuilding  yards 
may  wait  for  month  after  month,  and  a  state  of 
things  is  brought  about  which  contrasts  most 
strongly  with  what  can  be  done,  say,  in  Germany. 
A  German  shipbuilder  was  asked  what  he  did 
when  the  work  grew  heavy  and  there  were  not 
enough  men  for  it.  He  replied  that  the  course 
he  pursued  was  to  get  in  touch,  through  the 
proper  channels,  with  men  who  were  on  the 
point  of  leaving  the  army,  to  engage  them  for 
his  yard,  and  then  to  put  them  through  a  short 
course  of  training.  He  found  that  in  a  month 
or  two  they  were  able  to  do  excellent  work, 
and  they  made  most  desirable  employes.  Of 
men  of  this  type  he  had  already  had  700. 

It  is  for  such  freedom  of  employment  as  this 
that  the  British  shipbuilder  longs.  Apart,  too, 
from  the  grievous  harm  which  is  being  done 
to  an  important  industry,  he  regards  it  as  little 
short  of  a  scandal  that  one  man,  in  want  of 
bread,  should  be  prevented  from  doing  work 
which  he  could  easily  learn  to  do,  and  of  which 
there  is  abundance  to  be  done ;  while  another 


RESTRICTING    APPRENTICES  55 

man,  who  keeps  him  out,  gets  so  much  pay  that 
he  is  able  to  spend  a  good  part  of  his  time  in 
the  streets  or  the  publichouse,  and  will  not 
himself  give  his  harassed  employer  more  than 
two-thirds  of  his  energy.  When  a  shipbuilder 
is  told  that  this  is  "  a  free  country,"  he  is  in- 
clined to  doubt  the  statement ;  and  so,  too,  is 
the  would-be  worker  who  stands  in  enforced 
idleness  at  the  shipyard  gates. 

After  these  remarks,  the  following  extracts 
from  the  "  Boilermakers'  Society's  New  Rules 
(1901)"  may  be  left  to  speak  for  themselves. 
The  passages  printed  in  italics  are  "  additions 
to  the  previous  rules  (1896),"  and  they  show 
that  the  tendency  in  this  particular  trade  is  to 
increase  the  restrictions  rather  than  to  diminish 
them : 

RULE  22. — ADMISSION  OF  APPRENTICES. 

Section  2. —  .  .  .  No  one  shall  be  acknowledged  by 
this  society  as  having  any  claim  on  the  trade  who  does 
not  commence  working  at  the  same  at  the  age  of  16  years, 
and  continue  at  it  for  the  space  of  five  years,  so  as  to 
enable  him  to  become  an  efficient  workman ;  and  unless  he 
is  such  he  shall  not  be  admitted  a  member  of  this  society. 

Section  5. —  .  .  .  The  number  of  apprentices  must 
not  exceed  one  to  every  five  journeymen  working  in  any 
shop  or  yard.  This  to  apply  in  slack  times  as  well  as 
busy  times.  The  average  number  of  journeymen  working 
at  the  trade  for  any  employer  during  five  years  shall  be  a 
guide  for  regulating  the  number  of  apprentices  employed. 


56      BOILERMAKING   AND   SHIPBUILDING 

Section  6. —  .  .  .  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  District 
Committee  to  examine  their  Registration  Book  of  Appren- 
tices each  quarter,  and  should  it  be  found  that  the  number 
of  lads  entered  in  any  branch  Registration  Book  exceed 
the  number  allowed  in  rule,  they  shall  have  power  to  call 
upon  that  branch  or  branches  to  call  a  Meeting  of  their 
members  with  the  object  of  reducing  the  number  of  appren- 
tices to  the  before-going  limit. 

RULE  26. — DONATION  BENEFITS. 

Section  14. —  When  there  are  more  than  10  per  cent,  of 
the  members  signing  the  Home  Donation  and  Vacant 
Book,  the  Executive  Council  shall  issue  orders  that  no 
member  shall  be  allowed  to  work  overtime  except  when 
sanctioned  by  the  District  Committee  and  approved  by 
the  Executive  Council.  Members  violating  this  shall  be 
fined  \s.for  each  hour  they  may  work  in  excess  of  that  so 
granted. 

RULE  43.  — MEMBERS  ACTING  CONTRARY  TO  TRADE  INTERESTS. 

Section  1. — Any  member  of  this  society,  either  angle- 
iron  smith,  plater,  riveter,  caulker,  holder-up,  or  sheet- 
iron  worker,  instructing  any  one  not  connected  with  our 
society  (except  legal  apprentices)  by  allowing  him  to 
practise  with  his  tools,  or  otherwise  instructing  him  in 
other  branches  of  the  trade,  shall,  on  proof  thereof,  be 
fined  for  the  first  offence  lOs. ;  for  the  second,  ^1  ;  and 
the  third,  to  be  expelled  the  society. 

Section  2. — All  riveting  machines  used  in  shipbuilding 
where  piecework  is  done  must  be  worked  by  a  full  set  of 
riveters,  who  must  be  members  of  our  society.  Any  member 
working  shorthanded,  or  any  member  working  on  such  with 
a  non-member,  shall  be  fined  5s.  for  each  offence. 

All  riveting  machines  used  in  boiler  shops  or  bridge 
yards  must  be  worked  by  our  members  at  riveters'1  rates. 


FINES   AND   PENALTIES  57 

Caulking,  cutting,  and  other  machines,  whether  hy- 
draulic, electrical,  or  pneumatic,  etc.,  to  be  worked  by  our 
members  at  recognised  rates. 

All  light  holes,  manholes,  and  all  holes  appertaining  to 
riveting  and  caulking  must  be  cut  out  by  our  members, 
whether  by  machinery  or  hand.  Members  refusing  to  do 
such  work  when  requested  shall  be  fined  for  the  first 
offence  40s. ,  second  offence  £4t. 

Section  3. — All  work  done  at  punching  machines, 
hydraulic  presses,  and  rolls  must  be  done  by  our  mem- 
bers, but  platers1  wages  must  be  paid.  Members  re- 
fusing to  do  such  work  when  requested  shall  be  fined 
for  the  first  offence  40,?.,  second  offence  £4t. 

Or  if  any  members  are  working  piecework  and  employ 
any  other  than  our  members  on  such  machines,  they  shall 
each  be  fined  40s.  for  the  first  offence  and  £4>  for  the 
second  offence;  and  any  'member  working  at  any  shop  or 
yard  where  such  is  being  done,  and  does  not  report  the 
same  to  his  branch,  shall  be  fined  liOs.for  such  neglect. 

Section  4. — It  is  not  in  the  interest  of  this  society  that 
piecework  should  be  done,  but  when  members  are  com- 
pelled to  do  it,  members  of  one  branch  of  the  trade 
shall  not  take  piecework  from  another.  Any  member  or 
members  being  proved  to  have  violated  the  above,  both 
the  contracting  members  shall  be  fined  £5  for  each 
offence.  Any  member  taking  work  below  the  usual  price 
shall  be  fined  £1  for  the  first  offence,  £5  for  the  second, 
and  be  suspended  from  all  benefits  for  twelve  months 
if  detected  a  third  time.  Any  member  taking  piecework 
must  consult  the  other  members  of  that  branch  of  the 
trade  working  in  the  shop  or  yard  before  taking  the  same, 
or  be  fined  as  above.  This  only  applies  to  work  not 
mentioned  in  the  recognised  Price  Lists.  Any  member 
taking  work  by  the  piece  and  not  sharing  equally,  in 
proportion  to  his  wages,  any  surplus  made  over  and 


58      BOILERMAKING   AND  SHIPBUILDING 

above  the  weekly  wages  paid  to  members  working  on 
such  job,  shall  be  summoned  before  his  branch  or  com- 
mittee of  his  branch,  and,  if  he  do  not  comply  with  the 
above  regulation,  he  shall  be  fined,  in  the  first  instance, 
£5 ;  second,  £10 ;  and,  in  the  third  instance,  be  ex- 
cluded, subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Executive  Council. 
Any  member  working  piecework,  or  causing  it  to  be  in- 
troduced into  any  shop  or  yard  where  it  is  not  already  in 
existence,  without  first  laying  the  matter  before  his 
branch  and  obtaining  the  consent  of  the  District  Com- 
mittee, shall  be  fined  £5  for  the  first  offence,  and  ex- 
pelled for  the  second.  Branches  where  there  is  no  District 
Committee  must  obtain  the  consent  of  the  Executive 
Council. 


IRONFOUNDING 

OF  the  state  of  things  existing  in  the  iron- 
founding  industry  it  must  suffice  to  give  the 
following  extracts  from  a  set  of  district  by-laws 
of  the  Friendly  Society  of  Ironfounders  of 
England,  Ireland,  and  Wales.  These  by-laws 
are  for  a  district  only,  but  they  have  been 
approved  by  the  Executive  Council  of  the 
society,  whose  sanction  gives  the  approval  of 
the  society  as  a  whole: 

RULE  V. 

It  shall  be  a  recognised  rule  to  limit  the  number  of 
boys  to  the  rate  of  one  boy  to  three  men,  and  should  a 
dispute  arise  with  regard  to  the  number  in  any  shop,  the 
average  shall  be  taken  from  the  number  of  men  having 
worked  in  the  shop  during  the  five  previous  years. 

RULE  VII. 

Should  any  member  of  these  branches  consider  that 
any  of  their  shopmates  are  doing  work  in  less  time  than 
it  has  taken  formerly  to  do,  whether  set  work  or  day 
work,  or,  if  piecework,  doing  for  less  money  than  the 
amount  previously  paid  for  the  same  work  from  the  same 
pattern,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  each  and  every  member 
in  the  shop  to  warn  such  member  or  members  of  the 
consequences  attending  the  same,  or  be  fined  %s.  6cl. ;  and 

59 


60  IRONFOUNDING 

should  the  offenders  after  this  notice  still  persist  in  the 
same  course,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  shop  steward  to 
acquaint  the  president  of  the  same,  so  that  a  committee 
meeting  may  be  called  to  inquire  into  the  case  ;  and  should 
the  said  meeting,  after  hearing  both  sides,  consider  that 
the  law  has  been  violated,  they  shall  enforce  the  fine  of 
£\  against  each  of  the  offenders.  Any  shop  steward 
neglecting  his  duty  in  warning  the  officers  of  his  branch 
shall  subject  himself  to  a  fine  of  %s.  6d.  for  each  neglect. 

RULE  XII. 

In  order  to  promote  the  interests  of  the  trade,  each 
and  every  member  in  these  branches  shall  discourage 
the  present  system  of  core-making,  so  that  this  important 
branch  of  our  trade  may  not  be  taken  out  of  our  hands 
by  those  not  connected  with  the  trade.  In  order  to 
do  this  members  in  these  branches  shall  not  be  allowed 
to  work  with,  or  be  assisted  by,  any  labourer  or  other 
man  who  may  be  introduced  to  core-making  after  this 
date,  but  shall  not  interfere  with  those  who  have  served 
a  legal  time,  or  who  are  serving  their  time,  or  men  who 
are  at  present  working  at  core-making ;  and  in  future 
all  boys  coming  into  the  foundry  to  learn  the  trade  of 
moulding  shall  work  two  years  at  core-making,  and  shall 
then  come  on  the  floor  as  vacancies  occur.  Any  member 
being  discharged  through  compliance  with  or  through 
defending  this  rule  shall  be  recommended  to  the  Executive 
for  the  Auxiliary  Benefit,  and  any  member  violating  this 
rule  shall  be  fined  «£*!,  subject  to  the  decision  of  the 
Executive  Committee. 

The  excuse  has  been  made  that  workmen 
object  to  the  introduction  of  new  machinery 
because  it  means  that  less  skilled  labour  will  be 
put  on  at  a  lower  wage,  to  the  detriment  of 


DIFFICULTIES    WITH    MACHINERY         61 

themselves.  That  this  is  a  sufficient  reason  for 
not  using  machinery,  and  refusing  to  bring  a 
factory  up  to  date,  will  hardly  be  admitted  by 
those  who  have  any  real  regard  for  industrial 
progress ;  but  an  incident  which  occurred  at 
Hull  early  in  1901  shows  that  machinery  may 
be  objected  to  even  when  the  employers  are 
careful  to  guard  against  any  injury  to  individual 
interests.  A  local  firm  introduced  into  their 
works  a  "  Tabor  "  moulding  machine,  of  which 
there  are  said  to  be  sixty  in  use  in  the  country, 
all  worked  by  labourers.  The  firm  offered  to 
allow  their  moulders  to  work  the  machines,, 
instead  of  engaging  fresh  unskilled  labourers  for 
them,  as  they  would  have  been  warranted  in 
doing;  but  the  moulders  refused  unless  they 
were  allowed  to  have  labourers,  thus  involving 
another  set  of  wages.  To  this  the  firm  objected, 
and  outside  help  was  brought  in  to  do  the  work 
the  moulders  would  not  take  up.  The  moulders 
were  then  called  out  on  strike  by  their  society, 
the  works  were  closely  picketed,  acts  of  violence 
were  committed,  and  the  dispute  went  on  until 
a  settlement  was  effected  by  the  stipendiary 
magistrate.  Here  we  have  an  instance  of  a 
strike  against  machinery  even  where  the  utmost 
consideration  had  been  shown  by  the  employers 
for  the  interests  of  their  men. 


THE   SOUTH   METROPOLITAN   GAS 
COMPANY 

THE  story  of  the  South  Metropolitan  Gas  Com- 
pany and  their  men  is  well  worth  recalling  at 
the  present  moment,  because  it  shows  alike  how 
aggressive  trade  unionism  may  become,  how 
great  is  the  aversion  of  trade  union  officials  to 
any  scheme  that  tends  to  bind  masters  and  men 
together,  and  how  successfully  trade  union  tactics 
can  be  defeated  when  the  employers  represent 
a  compact  and  determined  body.  In  1889,  on 
the  suggestion  of  the  Gas  Workers'  Union,  the 
Company  granted  to  their  men  (to  whom  they 
had  themselves  offered  it  on  two  previous  occa- 
sions) a  three-shift  instead  of  a  two-shift  system, 
and  the  concession  was  made  so  readily  that  the 
officials  of  the  union  thought  they  had  only  to 
ask  for  more  and  they  would  get  it.  Finding 
that  the  stokers  were  filling  up  some  of  their 
leisure  moments  by  oiling  the  retort  lids,  carried 
on  levers,  they  insisted  that  this  was  not  stokers' 
work — although  the  stokers  themselves  raised 
no  objection  to  it — and  that  special  men  should 

62 


AN    INTOLERABLE   POSITION  63 

be  put  on  for  this  trivial  bit  of  work.  In  this 
and  in  other  matters  the  object  seemed  to  be 
to  find  all  sorts  of  little  jobs  which  would  afford 
an  excuse  for  getting  more  men  put  on  the  wages 
list.  Having  secured  all  the  stokers  as  members, 
the  union  next  tried  to  get  the  yard  men  and 
the  mechanics,  while  the  policy  of  interference 
carried  on  rendered  the  position  of  affairs  alto- 
gether intolerable.  Thereupon  the  company 
introduced  their  profit-sharing  scheme,  hoping 
thereby  to  create  a  closer  bond  between  them- 
selves and  their  men.  This  was  so  little  to  the 
taste  of  the  union  that  it  withdrew  all  its 
members  at  a  week's  notice,  thus  causing  a 
difficulty  which  involved  the  company  in  ex- 
penditure and  losses  amounting  to  £100,000. 
When  the  strike  was  at  last  over  the  company 
took  back  the  union  men,  but  their  secretary 
threatened  that  the  next  time  there  would  be  no 
week's  notice  given.  The  company  then  decided 
that  they  would  employ  no  more  union  men  for 
the  future,  and  to  this  resolve  they  have  adhered, 
with  the  result  that,  since  then,  employers  and 
employed  at  the  South  Metropolitan  Gas  Works 
have  been  quite  a  happy  family.  The  business, 
too,  is  conducted  more  cheaply  there  than  at 
other  London  gas  works  which  are  still  under 
trade  union  domination.  Thus  in  the  early  days 


64     SOUTH  METROPOLITAN  GAS  COMPANY 

at  the  South  Metropolitan  the  wages  represented 
2s.  7d.  per  ton  of  coal  used  ;  the  amount  went 
up  to  3s.  7d.  when  trade  union  influence  became 
supreme  in  the  works,  and  it  still  remains  at 
about  that  figure  in  the  case  of  London  com- 
panies which  have  not  thrown  off  the  trade  union 
yoke;  whereas  the  South  Metropolitan  Company 
have  reduced  the  amount  to  2s.  2d.,  although  the 
wages  they  pay  are  somewhat  higher  than  those 
of  the  other  companies.  The  reason  is  that  the 
non-unionists  at  the  South  Metropolitan  work 
better  than  the  unionists  elsewhere  do,  and  that, 
since  the  strike,  machinery  has  been  extensively 
substituted  at  the  works  for  hand  labour,  whereas, 
though  machinery  is  used  in  works  where  trade 
unionism  is  an  active  force,  the  output  is  so 
restricted  by  the  men  that  not  much  more  is 
actually  done  than  could  be  accomplished  by 
hand.  While  the  non-union  stokers  will  draw 
fifty  retorts  an  hour,  the  unionists,  using  similar 
machinery,  keep  to  forty  an  hour  at  the  outside. 
Then  in  regard  to  wages,  it  is  worth  mentioning 
that  in  1898  the  South  Metropolitan  and  the 
Crystal  Palace  District  Companies  both  decided 
voluntarily  to  increase  the  stokers'  wages  7J  per 
cent.,  an  example  which  the  other  companies 
refrained  from  following  until  they  were  practi- 
cally obliged  so  to  do. 


BOOT  AND   SHOE   TRADES 

THERE  are  very  few  trade  unions  connected 
with  boot  and  shoe  manufacture  in  which  any 
attempt  is  made  to  specify  the  amount  of  work 
a  man  shall  do  in  a  given  period,  whether  hour, 
or  day,  or  week.  At  the  same  time,  there  is  a 
clear  understanding  that  a  man  shall  not  do 
more  than  a  certain  quantity,  and  if  he  should 
do  more  his  life  may  be  made  intolerable.  That 
this  expression  is  not  too  strong  is  shown  by  a  re- 
markable case  which  occurred  at  Leicester  during 
the  course  of  1900.  It  was  found  that  a  certain 
sober,  steady,  frugal  sort  of  man  was  moving 
about  from  one  factory  to  another,  although  at 
each  of  them  he  had  earned  the  respect  of  his 
employer  as  a  person  who  seemed  really  to  take 
an  interest  in  his  work.  But  he  had  become 
unpopular  with  the  other  men  because  they 
thought  he  was  doing  too  much.  At  last  he 
got  to  a  factory  where  his  shopmates  not  only 
grumbled  at  the  amount  of  energy  he  was 
showing,  but  lodged  a  formal  complaint  against 

65  5 


66  BOOT  AND   SHOE   TRADES 

him  with  the  officials  of  their  society.  The 
officials  took  the  matter  up,  and  sent  a  summons 
to  the  man  to  attend  at  the  union  office  and 
give  an  explanation.  Thereupon  he  went  just 
outside  the  town,  and  committed  suicide  by 
cutting  his  throat.  He  left  a  pathetic  note 
behind,  stating  that  his  life  had  been  made  a 
burden  to  him,  and  that  the  fact  of  his  having 
had  a  summons  to  appear  before  the  officials  of 
the  union  had  caused  him  to  commit  the  act. 
In  the  opinion  of  one  large  employer  of  labour 
to  whom  this  story  was  related,  if  the  records 
of  the  coroners'  courts  were  searched  many 
another  such  case  would  be  found  in  them. 

In  the  shoe  trade,  as  in  various  others,  the 
idea  at  the  back  of  the  check  put  on  individual 
energy  is  that  the  less  work  each  man  does  the 
greater  will  be  the  number  employed.  There 
is,  it  is  argued,  only  a  certain  amount  of  work 
to  be  done,  and  if  every  one  tries  to  do  as 
much  as  he  can  there  will  not  be  enough  to  go 
round.  So  they  "go  easy,"  more  or  less,  and 
there  is  no  doubt  that  the  output  of  the  English 
worker  is  a  good  deal  less  than  that  of  the 
American.  It  may  be  that  this  fact  is  not 
entirely  due  to  the  former.  The  American 
factories  are  better  organised,  and  the  work  is 
"  got  ready  "  in  such  a  way  that  it  can  be  taken 


THE   LIMITATION   OF   OUTPUT  67 

in  hand  without  loss  of  time.  Fault  is  there- 
fore found  with  the  English  manufacturers  for 
not  adopting  a  similar  course.  It  is  feared, 
however,  that  even  if  the  English  workers  had 
precisely  the  same  conditions  as  their  American 
rivals,  they  would  not  be  likely  to  turn  out 
the  same  quantity  of  work  unless  they  greatly 
changed  their  present  ideas  and  disposition.  In 
any  case  we  have  the  remarkable  fact  that  while 
the  American  manufacturers  have  to  pay  their 
men  £3  a  week,  against  the  28s. ,  30s. ,  or  35s.  paid 
here,  they  could  at  one  time  send  certain  classes 
of  boots  from  Chicago  to  London  and  beat  the 
English  makers  in  their  own  markets.  It  might, 
of  course,  be  suggested  that  if  the  English 
workers  were  paid  £3  a  week  they  would  pro- 
duce more  ;  but  in  present  conditions  it  is  hardly 
probable  that  any  English  manufacturer  would 
care  to  make  the  experiment,  while  it  is  believed 
that  even  if  he  did  the  men's  unions  would 
take  care  that  nothing  like  the  same  amount  of 
work  was  done  for  the  money  as  is  the  case  in 
America. 

The  whole  question  of  the  limitation  of  output 
is  regarded  by  the  employers  as  one  of  grave 
concern  to  the  welfare  of  the  trade,  especially 
when  coupled  with  the  theory  of  the  minimum 
wage — a  theory  which  they  consider  altogether 


68  BOOT  AND  SHOE  TRADES 

unsound  in  principle — and  the  frequent  demands 
for  increased  wages.  The  result,  they  declare, 
has  been  to  bring  about  a  large  increase  in  the 
cost  of  production,  adding  to  the  difficulties 
which  manufacturers  experience  in  obtaining 
remunerative  prices  for  their  goods,  and  in 
meeting  foreign  competition.  Dealing  with 
these  subjects  in  their  annual  report  for  1900, 
the  executive  committee  of  the  Incorporated 
Federated  Associations  of  Boot  and  Shoe  Manu- 
facturers of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  say : 

There  is  naturally  a  general  desire  on  the  part  of  the 
workmen  to  obtain  higher  wages,  but  the  advance  of  wages 
need  not  necessarily  involve  an  increase  in  the  cost  of 
production,  and  might  be  accompanied  by  a  considerable 
decrease  in  such  cost  if  the  workmen  were  free  to  apply 
their  ability  and  capacity  to  a  reasonable  and  proper 
extent.  The  contention  of  manufacturers  that  the 
majority  of  workmen  could  easily  do  more  work  is 
supported  by  very  strong  evidence.  Complaints  of  the 
limitation  and  reduction  of  output  are  very  general  in  the 
trade,  and  come  from  manufacturers  in  all  centres.  It  is 
apparently  the  policy  of  the  union  to  get  the  minimum 
rate  of  wages  fixed  as  high  as  possible  and  to  stifle  the 
production. 

The  restriction  of  output  is  a  very  serious  matter,  and 
the  art  of  measuring  up  to  a  nicety  the  quantity  of  work 
to  be  done  is  universally  practised  by  the  operatives  in  all 
the  departments  of  the  factories,  and  is  a  grave  menace 
to  the  future  progress  of  the  trade.  The  circumstances 
surrounding  the  recent  suicide  of  a  Leicester  operative, 
who  was  summoned  before  the  local  union  executive  to 


A   POLICY   OF  INTERFERENCE  69 

answer  a  charge  of  doing  too  much  work,  indicate  the 
persecution  and  terrorism  to  which  a  workman  who  desires 
to  do  an  honest  day^s  work  is  subjected  by  the  system  of 
espionage,  to  which  the  union  lends  the  support  of  its 
organisation.  The  adoption  of  this  short-sighted  and 
retrogressive  policy  by  the  union,  and  the  consequent  check 
to  the  development  of  industry  in  the  trade,  were  the  chief 
causes  of  the  lock-out  in  1895,  and  it  was  anticipated  that 
the  provisions  of  the  terms  of  settlement,  which  place  this 
question  beyond  the  scope  of  arbitration  and  declare  that 
it  shall  not  be  made  a  matter  of  dispute  by  the  union, 
would  be  sufficient  to  ensure  the  discontinuance  of  the 
practice,  but  the  hope  has  not  been  realised. 

Referring  to  the  introduction  (in  accordance 
with  these  terms  of  settlement)  of  the  "piece- 
work statement,"  by  means  of  which,  it  was 
hoped,  an  improved  condition  of  working  would 
be  brought  about,  the  executive  committee 
further  say : 

The  statement  has  been  used  by  the  union  for  the 
purpose  of  regulating  and  limiting  the  amount  of  work 
to  be  done  by  workmen  on  weekly  wages,  and  to  supply 
a  pretext  for  interference  by  the  union  officials  in  the 
management  generally  of  lasting  departments.  Such 
action  on  the  part  of  the  union  is  not  a  fair  and  proper 
use  of  the  piecework  statement,  and  it  was  never  intended 
that  the  statement  should  be  applied  to  day  workers. 
Under  such  a  system  of  limitation  and  interference  the 
workmen  are  not  encouraged  to  work  to  the  best  of  their 
ability,  and  the  employers  derive  none  of  the  advantages 
of  piecework,  but  are  subjected  to  all  its  disadvantages, 
with  the  result  that  the  cost  of  production  is  materially 


70  BOOT  AND  SHOE  TRADES 

increased.  If  the  present  policy  of  the  union  in  regard  to 
these  matters  is  continued,  it  will  become  necessary  for 
the  federation  to  find  some  speedy  and  effective  remedy. 

In  the  course  of  their  report  for  1901,  the 
executive  committee,  in  referring  to  the  ob- 
jection of  the  manufacturers  to  a  minimum 
wage,  say  that  objection  is  not  based  upon  any 
desire  to  keep  down  wages  which  the  workmen 
are  capable  of  earning,  and  they  add  : 

In  effect,  the  minimum  wage  system  encourages  slowness, 
the  standard  of  efficiency  being  regulated  by  the  capacity 
of  the  slower  and  less  competent  men.  Since  the  present 
mimmums  were  fixed,  the  union,  through  its  officials,  has 
persistently  influenced  the  workmen  to  do  less  work,  and 
brought  continual  pressure  to  bear  upon  them  to  check 
any  disposition  upon  their  part  to  work  quickly,  with  the 
result  that  the  product  of  labour  at  the  present  time  of  all 
classes  of  operatives,  whether  employed  at  or  above  the 
minimum^)  is  considerably  less  than  it  was  formerly.  The 
manufacturers  contend  that  if  a  workman  wishes  to 
increase  his  wage  he  must  increase  the  value  of  the  service 
he  renders. 

In  view  of  the  existence  of  such  conditions 
as  these,  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  that  the 
present  position  of  the  English  boot  and  shoe 
trade  is  far  from  satisfactory,  and  has  given  rise 
to  much  anxiety  and  trouble. 


RAILWAY    WORKERS 

IN  the  railway  world  trade  unionism  has  not 
become  so  powerful  a  force  as  in  certain  other 
branches  of  labour,  and  this  is  not  surprising 
considering  that,  whereas  the  total  number 
of  railway  servants  in  Great  Britain  is  about 
550,000,  the  membership  of  the  Amalgamated 
Society  of  Railway  Servants  in  December,  1900, 
was  only  62,000.  The  attempts  made  to  compel 
the  companies  to  recognise  the  society  and  sub- 
mit more  or  less  to  its  dictation  have  been  un- 
successful except  in  one  instance,  and  the  officers 
of  the  society  are  now  wisely  content  to  accept 
the  principle  that  railway  servants  who  have 
grievances  should  approach  their  superior  officers 
direct,  and  not  through  a  third  party.  Yet,  al- 
though the  wings  of  the  trade  union  officials 
have  thus  been  clipped,  and  although  the  rules 
of  the  A.S.R.S.  may  be  quite  harmless  in  them- 
selves, the  teaching  of  trade  unionism  in  regard 
to  the  "  go  easy "  policy  is  having  its  effect  on 
the  actual  working  of  British  railways.  Apart 

71 


72  RAILWAY  WORKERS 

from  their  own  inclinations,  a  large  body  of 
railwaymen  (though  by  no  means  all)  accept  the 
axiom  that  if  they  refrain  from  working  too  hard 
it  may  lead  to  another  man,  who  might  other- 
wise be  unemployed,  being  put  on  as  well. 
There  are  the  further  considerations  that  the 
individual  who  "  puts  his  back  into  "  his  work 
stands  a  chance  of  promotion  over  his  fellows, 
which  in  itself  is  distasteful  to  them,  while  he 
renders  it  necessary  for  them  to  work  all  the 
harder  in  order  to  escape  complaints  from  the 
foreman.  One  railwayman,  described  as  "a  very 
smart  chap,"  who  was  loading  coal,  and  putting 
into  his  work  all  the  energy  he  possessed,  was 
told  by  his  mates  that  "  he  mustn't  work  like 
that,"  and  when  he  still  kept  on  at  the  same 
rate  they  struck  him  in  the  face  and  blackened 
his  eye.  The  enforcement  of  the  unwritten  law 
on  the  good  workers  who  want  to  do  their  best 
may  not  always  take  so  vigorous  a  form  as  this, 
but  "  Ca'  canny "  is  undoubtedly  spreading  on 
railways  as  in  many  other  branches  of  industry. 
A  few  weeks  ago  a  certain  station-master  applied 
to  his  chiefs  in  London  for  more  porters.  "Why," 
he  was  told,  "  you  have  got  (so  many),  and  your 
traffic  hasn't  grown."  "  Yes,"  he  replied,  "  but 
the  men  won't  work  as  they  used  to."  And 
that  particular  station-master  is  not  the  only 


SHORTER  HOURS  AND  EXTRA  WORK  73 

one  connected  with  railways  who  says  the  same 
thing. 

The  question  of  not  working  too  hard  is,  of 
course,  quite  distinct  from  the  question  of  not 
working  too  long.  In  regard  to  the  latter  the 
trade  unions  boast  that  they  have  been  able  to 
secure  for  the  men  increased  facilities  for  leisure, 
repose,  and  mental  improvement.  Yet  railway- 
men  who  have  been  given  their  Sunday  willingly 
surrender  it  if  they  see  a  chance  of  making  extra 
money,  while  from  country  districts  there  come 
strong  complaints  to  head  officials  in  London 
that  signal-box  men  and  other  railway  servants* 
who  already  have  a  certain  wage,  devote  their 
increased  leisure  to  shoe-making,  gardening, 
plastering,  and  other  employments,  thus  taking 
the  bread  out  of  the  mouths  of  those  in  the 
place  who  depend  on  these  occupations  for  their 
livelihood.  This  is  a  phase  of  the  "  shorter 
hours  "  movement  which  was  probably  not  fore- 
seen. 

Then  in  regard  to  wages,  there  is  an  increasing 
disposition  on  the  part  of  railwaymen  to  become 
permeated  with  the  essentially  trade  union  prin- 
ciple that  all  those  who  are  engaged  in  the  same 
kind  of  employment  should  receive  the  same  rate 
of  pay,  irrespective  of  any  question  of  merit. 
This  tendency  is  adding  to  the  complications  of 


74  RAILWAY   WORKERS 

the  situation,  and  is  not  working  to  the  advan- 
tage of  the  employes.  There  are  instances  where 
a  railway  company  may  wish  to  recognise  the 
services  of  a  certain  signalman,  for  instance,  by 
giving  him  an  increase  in  his  pay ;  but  when  this 
is  done,  all  his  mates  in  neighbouring  cabins— 
who  previously  may  have  been  quite  content 
with  their  wages — become  dissatisfied.  A  com- 
pany might  also  be  disposed  to  raise  the  wages 
of  a  hundred  signalmen  in  a  particular  district, 
but  this  would  at  once  lead  to  a  demand  for  a 
similar  increase  for  all  the  signalmen,  thousands 
in  number,  throughout  the  system.  In  the  cir- 
cumstances, therefore,  a  railway  company  now 
has  to  think  twice  before  it  grants  an  increase 
either  to  a  particular  individual  or  to  a  particular 
group  among  its  employes.  While,  however, 
trade  union  influence  may  thus  hamper  the  con- 
cession of  increased  advantages  to  the  men,  the 
fact  that  railway  companies  have  made  con- 
cessions without  any  trade  union  intervention  at 
all  is  regarded  as  showing  that  such  intervention 
is  by  no  means  necessary  to  the  securing  of 
higher  pay. 

Although  trade  unionism  may  not  adopt  a 
systematically  aggressive  attitude  towards  the 
railway  companies,  the  latter  would  not  care  to 
see  any  increase  even  in  such  strength  as  it  may 


THE   QUESTION   OF  BENEFIT  FUNDS      75 

be  able  to  exercise,  and  it  is  an  open  secret  that 
the  benefit  funds  which  they  form  in  the  interests 
of  their  employes  are  due,  not  alone  to  philan- 
thropic motives,  but  to  a  desire  to  make  their 
servants  contented  and  give  them  less  reason  for 
joining  trade  unions  in  order  to  provide  for  sick- 
ness, old  age,  and  death.  It  is  also  frankly 
avowed  by  trade  union  leaders  that  their  oppo- 
sition to  such  benefit  fund  schemes  is  due  less 
to  any  real  objection  to  the  schemes  themselves 
than  to  the  possibilities  they  foresee  of  the  unions 
losing  their  hold  over  the  men. 


THE   TRAINING   OF   BOYS 

How  the  shipowners  rose  in  revolt  against 
trade  union  interference,  and  eventually  estab- 
lished their  authority  by  means  of  the  Shipping 
Federation,  is  too  well  known  a  story  to  need 
repeating  ;  but  their  latest  development,  in  the 
organisation  of  a  scheme,  now  being  successfully 
carried  out,  for  building  up  a  new  type  of  British 
seaman  by  getting  boys  from  country  districts 
and  training  them  either  as  "  boy  apprentices  " 
or  as  "  boy  sailors,"  opens  up  a  question  which 
is  of  much  wider  application  than  to  the  shipping 
trade  alone.  There  is  another  important  industry 
where  the  employers  are  keen  on  making  some 
arrangement  with  their  men's  union,  under  which 
exceptional  facilities  will  be  offered  to  intelligent 
and  promising  boys  to  enter  the  trade  and  under- 
go a  special  course  of  training,  for  the  purpose 
of  becoming  qualified  either  to  some  day  take 
the  post  of  foreman  or  manager,  or  at  least  to 
turn  out  the  very  best  class  of  work.  The  em- 
ployers are  willing  to  go  to  practically  any 

76 


THE   TRADE   UNION   LAD  77 

expense  in  the  carrying  out  of  this  scheme  in 
the  best  interests  of  the  trade ;  but  the  average 
trade  union  official  is  more  interested  in  mem- 
bers who  pay  than  in  the  training  of  foremen 
and  managers  who  may  eventually  regard  him 
with  no  very  kindly  feeling ;  nor  is  he  desirous 
of  seeing  workmen  put  under  greater  personal 
obligation  to  the  employer  to  the  detriment  of 
trade  union  influence.  It  may  be  for  some  such 
reason  as  this  that  the  union  in  question  has  not 
yet  seen  its  way  to  accept  the  employers'  pro- 
posals, though  one  may  hope  that  it  will  yet  do 
so.  Here  we  have  a  case  where  both  employers 
and  employed  have  a  powerful  combination,  so 
that  the  former  are  not  able  to  carry  out  a 
beneficent  scheme  of  this  kind  without  the 
consent  of  the  latter,  whereas  the  shipowners 
are  able  to  act  entirely  on  their  own  initiative. 

In  other  directions,  too,  this  question  of  train- 
ing the  young,  and  of  securing  a  greater  hold 
on  the  workers,  is  coming  to  the  front,  because 
it  is  found  that  lads  in  shops  where  trade  union- 
ism of  the  more  active  type  is  supreme  are  losing 
all  sense  of  discipline  and  all  sense  of  respect 
towards  the  employer,  as  the  result  of  listening 
to  the  talk  that  goes  on,  and  of  themselves  being 
led  to  adopt  the  ideas  and  follow  the  example 
of  the  more  dissatisfied  spirits  among  the  men. 


78  THE   TRAINING   OF  BOYS 

One  extensive  employer  of  labour  feels  the  matter 
so  keenly  that  he  has  drawn  up  an  elaborate 
scheme  for  subjecting  all  boys  to  a  regular  drill 
—and  girls,  too,  up  to  a  certain  age — with  the 
idea,  among  other  things,  of  teaching  them  dis- 
cipline and  respect  for  their  superiors.  Whether 
or  not  this  would  be  a  feasible  plan  need  not 
be  discussed  here  ;  but  owners  of  factories  are 
certainly  feeling  not  alone  the  decadence  of  the 
(trade  union)  working  man,  but  also  a  distinct 
degeneration  on  the  part  of  the  working  boy. 


PLATE-GLASS   BEVELLERS 

ONE  of  the  most  compact  illustrations  of  the 
working  of  militant  trade  unionism,  and  of  the 
results  it  may  bring  about  in  causing  trade  to 
leave  the  country,  is  afforded  by  the  story  of 
the  bevelled  plate-glass  industry.  In  1891  the 
employers  formed  themselves  into  the  London 
Plate-Glass  Trades  Association,  and  agreed  to 
give  official  recognition  to  the  National  Plate- 
Glass  Bevellers'  Union,  which,  it  was  thought, 
would  discharge  a  useful  function  in  fixing  a 
standard  rate  of  wages,  instead  of  leaving  each 
manufacturer  in  uncertainty  as  to  what  his 
competitors  were  paying.  But  as  time  went  on 
the  officials  of  the  union  resolved,  as  it  seemed, 
to  acquire  practical  domination  over  the  whole 
industry,  and  things  reached  such  a  pass  that 
the  employers  were  at  last  expected  to  take 
on  no  man  who  could  not  produce  a  certificate 
showing  that  he  had  been  approved  by  the 
union.  Rather  than  have  trouble  several  em- 
ployers accepted  the  requirement,  and  engaged 

79 


80  PLATE-GLASS   BEVELLERS 

men  only  through  the  union ;  but  others 
firmly  resisted  the  innovation,  and  it  looked  as 
if  opportunity  were  being  watched  to  compel 
them  to  surrender.  In  1894  a  union  official 
complained  of  having  been  insulted  in  the  shop 
of  one  of  the  associated  masters,  and  a  demand 
was  then  made  on  the  other  masters  that  they 
should  not  allow  the  owner  of  this  shop  to 
remain  in  their  combination.  The  refusal  of 
the  demand  led  to  a  strike,  which,  though  it 
lasted  only  a  fortnight  and  ended  in  the  defeat 
of  the  men,  was  a  most  eventful  one  for  the 
trade.  When  the  continued  supply  of  bevelled 
glass  in  this  country  was  endangered,  inquiries 
were  made  for  it  in  Belgium.  At  that  time, 
it  is  said,  bevelled  glass  was  not  being  produced 
there  ;  but  the  Belgians  had  their  eyes  opened 
to  the  possibilities  of  a  new  industry.  They 
investigated  the  subject  and  speedily  undertook 
the  business,  with  such  success  that,  thanks  to 
their  system  of  lower  wages  and  longer  hours, 
they  produced  at  a  less  price  than  was  done 
here,  and  worked  up  a  substantial  trade,  sup- 
plying not  only  London  but  the  provinces.  This 
trade  they  have  practically  kept  ever  since. 

In  1895  further  trouble  arose  in  London 
because  the  men's  union  disapproved  of  certain 
generous  terms  which  one  of  the  firms  that  had 


A   RESORT  TO   COERCION  81 

stood  out  the  most  vigorously  against  the  union 
demands  proposed  to  make  with  an  apprentice. 
Here,  again,  there  was  a  deliberate  attempt 
to  get  control  of  the  business.  The  firm  in 
question,  Messrs.  J.  &  W.  O.  Bailey,  refused 
to  yield,  and  thereupon  the  union  men  were 
withdrawn  from  the  shop,  the  place  was  closely 
picketed,  scenes  of  violence  and  disorder  occurred, 
the  men  who  remained  at  work,  or  were  smuggled 
into  the  place,  slept  on  the  premises  armed 
with  revolvers,  several  of  them  were  brutally 
assaulted  (their  assailants  being  afterwards  con- 
victed at  the  Clerkenwell  Sessions),  and  there 
was  an  evident  intention  on  the  part  of  the 
union  to  make  it  impossible  for  the  firm  to 
continue  their  business  at  all.  The  state  of 
terrorism  was  stopped,  however,  when  Messrs. 
Bailey  obtained  an  interim  injunction,  while 
not  only  was  this  interim  injunction  afterwards 
made  perpetual,  but,  as  the  result  of  the  now 
well-known  action  of  "  J.  &  W.  O.  Bailey  v.  Pye 
and  others,"  tried  before  Mr.  Baron  Pollock  and 
a  special  jury  in  the  Queen's  Bench  Division 
in  1897,  the  firm  were  awarded  £674  damages, 
and  costs  taxed  at  £543.  Here,  however,  comes 
the  irony  of  the  situation.  The  National  Glass 
Bevellers'  Union  had  had  the  financial  support 
of  ninety-nine  other  unions  in  these  legal 

6 


82  PLATE-GLASS   BEVELLERS 

proceedings,  but  the  writs  of  execution  against 
the  secretary  and  the  principal  defendants  resulted 
in  the  plaintiffs  getting  just  £5  of  the  £1,200  that 
was  awarded  them.  Yet  in  the  meantime  the 
men's  society  had  voted  to  the  defendants  in 
the  action  a  substantial  sum  of  money  for  the 
trouble,  expense,  and  inconvenience  to  which 
they  had  been  put.  The  final  outcome  of  the 
dislocation  the  trade  has  suffered  is  that  the 
Belgian  makers  get  almost  the  whole  of  the 
orders  for  stock  sizes  which  can  be  made  in 
large  quantities,  while  the  English  makers  have 
to  content  themselves  chiefly  with  orders  for 
special  sizes,  or  for  comparatively  small  quantities 
which  it  would  be  too  much  trouble  to  get 
executed  abroad.  But  the  loss  sustained  has 
not  been  all  on  the  side  of  our  manufacturers, 
for  the  foreign  competition,  brought  about 
under  the  circumstances  described,  has  had  the 
effect  of  reducing  the  wages  of  the  men  25 
per  cent,  below  what  they  were  when  trade 
unionism  first  became  an  active  force  among 
them. 


PLATE-GLASS  AND  SHEET-GLASS 

IN  the  plate-glass  and  sheet-glass  industry 
trade  unionism  is  not  now  of  much  account, 
inasmuch  as  the  majority  of  the  firms  formerly 
engaged  in  it  have  disappeared,  mainly  under 
the  pressure  of  foreign  competition,  and  the 
business  has  been  left  in  the  hands  of  two  firms, 
so  far  as  this  country  is  concerned,  so  that  the 
workmen,  though  they  have  their  union,  cannot 
take  the  same  liberties  as  might  be  taken  in  a 
trade  with  a  larger  numbers  of  employers.  Then, 
too,  the  men  who  can  really  influence  the  manu- 
facture are  paid  piecework,  and  have  no  reason 
for  "  going  easy."  But  the  trade  is  especially 
worth  referring  to  because  it  has  had  the  rare 
experience  of  profiting  by  foreign  troubles,  a 
strike  among  the  workers  of  Belgium,  which 
ended  in  August  1901,  having  increased  business 
here  and  enabled  the  English  manufacturers  to 
obtain  better  prices  during  the  twelve  months 
the  strike  lasted,  while  even  when  it  ended  the 
prices  did  not  go  back  to  the  level  at  which 
they  stood  before  the  strike  began. 

83 


THE   YORKSHIRE   GLASS   BOTTLE 
TRADE 

IN     the     glass     bottle    trade,    however,    trade 
unionism  has  been  a  much  more  active  force. 
There  are  two  branches  of  this  trade,  one  deal- 
ing  with    flint-glass    bottles,    chiefly    used    for 
medicine,  and  the  other  dealing  with  ordinary 
bottles.     The  union  of  the  latter  section,  with 
which  it  is  proposed  here  specially  to  deal,  is 
an  exceptionally  powerful  body,  but  the  masters 
also  have  a  strong  association,  and  the  general 
relations  are  fairly  harmonious,  as  is  shown  by 
the  fact  that  the  two  organisations  meet  once 
a  year  and  mutually  arrange  terms  for  the  next 
twelve  months.      On   the   other  hand,  the  re- 
strictions   imposed    by   the    men's   union    have 
always  been  very  onerous,  and   they   are   now 
proving  seriously  detrimental  to  the  well-being 
of  the  trade.     These  remarks  apply  more  par- 
ticularly to  the  question  of  apprentices.      The 
employers  do  not  seek  to  increase  the  proportion 
of  apprentices  to  the  number  of  journeymen,  but 

84 


THE   LIMITATION   OF  LABOUR  85 

they  do  complain  most  strongly  that  under  the 
operation  of  trade  union  law,  understood  rather 
than  written,  it  is  practically  impossible  for 
apprentices  to  learn  the  trade.  Even  a  manu- 
facturer, it  is  declared,  would  not  be  allowed 
to  teach  it  to  his  own  sons.  An  apprentice 
must  wait  until  he  is  out  of  his  time  before 
he  can  hope  to  pass  through  the  three  grades 
into  which  the  trade  is  divided,  and  he  starts 
learning  important  parts  of  the  business  at  an 
age  when  he  should  be  quite  proficient. 

The  object  of  these  restrictions  is  to  enable 
the  men  to  keep  a  good  thing  in  their  own 
hands.  They,  at  any  rate,  make  no  profession 
of  philanthropy  in  the  way  of  leaving  some- 
thing for  others.  They  work  five  days  a  week 
(representing  46  hours)  for  a  wage  of  from  45s. 
to  47s.,  and  they  have  no  desire  to  see  too 
many  people  brought  in.  The  result  of  this 
policy  is  that  if  any  great  expansion  were  to 
take  place  in  the  trade  there  would  not  be 
enough  glass  bottle  makers  in  the  country  to 
meet  it.  It  is  even  declared  that,  if  a  manu- 
facturer wanted  to  start  a  new  furnace  next 
year,  he  would  not  be  able  to  do  it  for  lack 
of  labour.  Nor  is  this  all,  for  a  further  effect 
of  the  action  of  the  men  in  regard  to  appren- 
tices, and  of  the  other  restrictions  imposed,  is 


86    THE   YORKSHIRE   GLASS  BOTTLE  TRADE 

to  be  seen  in  a  marked  deterioration  in  the 
skill  of  the  workers — a  deterioration  that  is 
likely  to  become  even  worse  in  the  future  than 
it  is  already  unless  something  is  done  to  check 
it.  It  seems  strange  to  hear  that  the  masters 
are  now  asking  the  men's  union  to  "  allow 
them  "  to  make  such  modifications  in  the  system 
of  working  as  will  permit  of  the  apprentices 
being  better  taught.  It  is  further  alleged 
against  the  men  that  they  will  not  work  other- 
wise than  according  to  stereotyped  Yorkshire 
customs.  They  will  not,  for  instance,  work 
where  there  are  machines,  and  the  machines 
have  therefore  to  be  kept  to  special  houses. 
So  an  opening  has  been  afforded  for  the  intro- 
duction into  this  country  of  a  large  number 
of  German  bottles,  made  on  lines  which  the 
Yorkshire  workers  will  not  adopt. 

Still  another  direction  in  which  trade  unionism 
is  exercising  a  pernicious  influence  in  the  glass 
bottle  trade  is  in  the  rule  that  there  is  to  be  no 
difference  in  the  rate  of  pay  among  men  in  the 
same  department.  Not  only  are  the  masters 
prevented  from  encouraging  the  steady  and  com- 
petent worker,  but  the  latter,  in  turn,  has  no 
incentive  to  keep  above  the  level  of  the  indi- 
vidual who  has  little  skill  and  less  energy — who 
spoils  an  enormous  amount  of  glass  while  he  is 


DETERIORATION   OF  THE   WORKERS      87 

at  work,  and  whose  thoughts  during  the  week 
are  fixed  less  on  his  duties  than  on  the  football 
match  which  is  to  take  place  on  the  Saturday. 
In  this  way  there  is  being  brought  about  a  still 
further  deterioration  in  the  skill  of  the  Yorkshire 
glass  bottle  makers,  compared  with  what  it  was 
twenty  or  thirty  years  ago. 


THE  BLACK  BOTTLE  TRADE 

SOME  developments  which  are  remarkable,  if 
not  altogether  unique,  in  their  way,  have  recently 
arisen  as  the  outcome  of  difficulties  experienced 
in  the  carrying  on  of  that  distinct  branch  of  the 
glass  industry  which  deals  with  the  making  of 
"  black  "  bottles,  used  mainly  for  wine.  The 
branch  in  question  was  introduced  into  this 
country  150  years  ago  by  Lord  Delavel,  who 
brought  over  from  Germany  a  number  of 
Hanoverian  bottle-blowers,  and  started  some 
works  adjacent  to  his  mansion  at  Seaton  Sluice, 
Northumberland,  for  the  manufacture  of  black 
glass  bottles,  his  main  idea  being  to  utilise 
some  inferior  qualities  of  coal  which  he  had 
mined  on  his  estate.  At  that  time,  it  may  be 
remarked  in  passing,  the  black  colour  of  the 
bottles  was  the  natural  result  of  the  materials 
used.  Since  then  other  materials  have  been 
adopted,  and  these,  by  themselves,  would  produce 
a  glass  which  is  transparent ;  but  wine  drinkers 
are  so  accustomed  to  having  their  wine  in  dark 


STRANGLING   AN   INDUSTRY  89 

bottles  that  the  black  colour  has  been  kept  to, 
and  is  now  produced  by  artificial  means.  Lord 
Delavel's  enterprise  was  so  successful  that  other 
factories  were  started,  and  at  one  time  there 
were  a  dozen  places  in  the  North  of  England 
where  black  glass  bottles  were  made,  some  of 
them  being  very  important  concerns  indeed. 
The  employes  at  these  different  works  were 
among  the  first  in  the  country  to  form  a  trade 
union,  and  it  became  the  distinct  policy  of  this 
union  to  adhere,  with  as  little  change  as  possible, 
to  the  original  method  of  making  black  bottles, 
as  introduced  by  Lord  Delavel.  This  method 
was  hard  to  acquire,  and  it  involved  a  severe 
tax  on  the  energies  of  the  workers  as  compared 
with  an  improved  and  much  simpler  process 
adopted  in  Germany  since  the  introduction  of 
the  industry  here.  It  was  extremely  difficult  to 
teach  the  English  trade  to  apprentices,  and  it 
was  difficult,  also,  to  find  men  with  constitutions 
sufficiently  strong  to  endure  the  strain  involved 
by  the  old-fashioned  methods.  But  the  men's 
union  would  sanction  none  but  the  old  style  of 
working,  so  that  the  members  might  have  the 
greater  chance  of  retaining  the  industry  in  a 
limited  number  of  hands,  which  result  they 
further  ensured  by  keeping  down  the  number 
of  apprentices  to  the  lowest  possible  level.  In 


90      THE  BLACK  BOTTLE  TRADE 

this  way,  too,  they  thought  there  would  be  no 
danger  of  any  surplus  of  labour,  and  no  possi- 
bility that  the  employers  would  pick  and  choose 
among  the  men,  taking  on  only  the  most  com- 
petent. So  the  trade  became  a  sort  of  close 
corporation,  and  the  men's  union  acquired  such 
absolute  control  that  it  was  able  to  dictate  to 
the  employers  all  the  terms  and  conditions 
under  which  the  industry  was  to  be  carried  on. 
Owing  to  the  attitude  of  the  trade  union  and 
the  increase  of  foreign  competition,  one  after 
another  of  the  original  firms  retired  from  the 
business  rather  than  attempt  to  carry  it  on 
further  under  such  almost  impossible  conditions, 
until  at  last  only  three  of  the  dozen  remained ; 
and  the  Germans,  with  their  improved  methods 
and  cheaper  production,  practically  captured  the 
market. 

A  few  years  ago,  however,  there  was  begun  at 
North  Woolwich  a  bold  and  valiant  attempt  alike 
to  circumvent  the  tactics  of  the  men's  union 
and  to  re-establish  on  a  sounder  footing  a  once 
flourishing  trade,  then  so  steadily  dwindling  away. 
Finding  the  English  workers  still  opposed  to  the 
improved  German  methods,  Messrs.  Moore  & 
Nettlefold  hit  upon  the  expedient  of  bringing  over 
skilled  glass-blowers  from  Germany,  and  con- 
ducting an  English  factory  on  English  soil  with 


RESORTING  TO  FOREIGN   LABOUR        91 

the  help  of  German  workmen  following  German 
methods.  This  line  of  policy  was  followed 
up  by  them  with  every  prospect  of  distinct 
success.  At  the  time  that  these  lines  are  being 
written  they  employ  at  their  North  Woolwich 
works  no  fewer  than  150  foreign  workpeople, 
mostly  Germans,  although  there  is  a  certain 
proportion  of  Austrians,  Italians,  French,  Poles, 
and  Russians  as  well ;  and  as  those  who  are 
married  have  brought  their  wives  and  children 
with  them,  and  even,  in  some  cases,  various 
other  relatives  in  addition,  a  foreign  colony  of 
about  800  souls  has  sprung  up  around  the  works. 
Each  glass-blower  works  six  shifts  of  eight  hours 
each  per  week,  against  the  trade  union  system 
of  five  shifts  of  ten  hours  each,  the  former 
arrangement  allowing  of  the  furnaces  being 
worked  continuously  day  and  night.  The  men 
are  paid  by  the  piece,  getting  from  10  to  15  per 
cent,  more  than  the  union  rate  of  wages,  and 
some  of  them  earn  from  £2  to  £3  a  week ; 
whereas,  although  they  are  skilled  workmen,  it 
was  a  struggle  for  most  of  them  to  get  30s.  a 
week  in  their  own  country.  They  are  steady 
workers,  amenable  to  discipline,  and,  though  they 
have  formed  a  trade  union  among  themselves, 
they  show  a  disposition  both  to  allow  the 
employers  to  manage  the  works,  and  also  to 


92      THE  BLACK  BOTTLE  TRADE 

establish  any  claim  they  may  advance  to  further 
6 'rights"  by  first  acquitting  themselves  well  of 
their  own  obligations  towards  their  masters. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  a  large  proportion  of  the 
newcomers  will  remain  in  this  country,  and 
already  the  colony  is  so  well  established  that  the 
local  registrar  of  births  and  deaths  has  issued 
notices  printed  in  German  and  French  explaining 
the  requirements  of  the  English  registration  laws, 
while  certain  local  shopkeepers  are  sending  out 
bills  in  these  languages  calling  attention  to  their 
wares.  The  effect  of  the  importation  of  these 
foreign  workers  into  the  district  was  that  a  sum 
of  £350  was  distributed  among  them  in  wages 
every  week  which  would  otherwise  represent 
money  going  to  Germany  for  glass  bottles  made 
in  that  country. 

The  works  which  constitute  this  very  practical 
revolt  against  English  trade  union  methods 
compete  with  German  importations  rather  than 
with  the  few  British  survivors  who  still  carry 
on  the  industry  in  the  North  of  England.  The 
output  there  is  nearly  all  for  local  consumption, 
while  those  survivors  are  still  subject  more  or 
less  to  trade  union  law.  But  the  expedient  of 
resorting  to  German  workers,  who  are  to  manu- 
facture in  this  country  according  to  German 
methods,  is  affording  a  far  better  opportunity  of 


THE   WORKING-BOY   OF  TO-DAY  93 

meeting  German  competition,  and  the  results 
of  the  enterprise  will  probably  be  watched  with 
no  little  interest,  more  especially  as  the  principle 
may  be  found  capable  of  much  wider  application 
than  to  the  black  bottle  trade  alone.  It  should 
be  added,  however,  that  the  works  in  question 
have  not  been  run  entirely  with  foreign  labour. 
There  has  been  an  equal  number  of  Englishmen 
employed  in  various  departments,  the  foreigners 
being  put  on  only  where  they  are  specially 
needed,  on  account  either  of  their  skill  or  of 
their  willingness  to  adopt  the  improved  methods 
which  British  trade  unionists  would  not  sanction. 
Even  in  these  latter  directions  it  is  hoped, 
should  an  expansion  of  the  works  become 
necessary  at  some  future  time,  to  avoid  bring- 
ing in  still  more  foreigners  by  having  a  number 
of  English  apprentices  trained  by  the  German 
hands.  Here,  however,  the  great  difficulty  is  to 
get  steady,  desirable  lads,  who  possess  alike  a 
sense  of  discipline  and  a  willingness  to  keep  to 
the  work  they  take  up. 


THE   FLINT-GLASS   TRADE 

REFERENCE  has  yet  to  be  made  to  a  branch 
of  the  British  glass  trades  which  is  the  most 
highly  skilled  of  them  all,  and  is  also  the  one 
in  which  trade  union  action  is  the  most  despotic. 
In  the  words  of  one  employer,  who  has  spent 
his  life  in  the  trade :  "  Take  the  worst  features 
of  every  union  in  existence,  make  of  them  one 
repressive  code,  and  then  you  will  get  some 
idea  of  what  the  National  Flint-Glass  Makers' 
Society  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  is  like." 
This  has  the  appearance  of  being  the  language 
of  prejudice  and  exaggeration.  Whether  it  is 
so  or  not  may  be  judged  from  the  following 
statement  of  facts. 

The  flint-glass  industry  is  that  branch  of  the 
glass  trades  which  deals  with  the  manufacture 
of  table-glass  of  all  kinds,  fancy  vases,  epergnes, 
and  decorated  coloured  glass  in  general,  as  well 
as  glass  shades  and  globes  for  gas  lighting, 
electric  lighting,  and  lamps.  The  chief  centre 
of  the  industry  is  Stourbridge,  Worcestershire, 

94 


RUINED  BY   HIS   EMPLOYES  95 

but  there   are   a  few  flint-glass  houses  also   in 
Scotland,  London,  Manchester,  and   elsewhere. 
With,  probably,  only  one  exception,  the  whole 
of  the  houses  making  flint-glass  employ  union 
men,  and  the  union  is  one  of  the  most  powerful 
of  labour  societies,  as  well  as  one  of  the  most 
domineering  in  its  general  policy.     To  its  action 
in  the  restriction  of  output,   in   imposing-  ob- 
noxious and  oppressive  rules,  and  in  other  ways, 
is  mainly  attributed  the  fact  that  a  once-thriving 
British  industry  has  been  brought  within  measur- 
able  distance  of  extinction.      Every   year  sees 
the  closing  of  more  and  more  flint-glass  houses, 
and   this   has   been  going  on  for   many   years. 
An    old    manufacturer  near   Stourbridge   came 
to  a  disastrous  end  in  the  early  part  of  1901, 
and  it  was  openly  declared  by  some  of  the  men 
in  the  trade  that  the  manufacturer  in  question 
had  been  "  entirely  ruined  by  his  own  employes." 
Since  then  a  well-known  glass  house  in  North 
Staffordshire  has  closed  its  gates,  and  two  houses 
at  Birmingham,  which  at  one  time  employed  a 
large  number  of  hands  on  flint-glass  manufacture, 
have  abandoned  the  industry.     These  are  merely 
a  few  recent  examples.     Twenty-five  years  ago 
there  were  probably  fifty  flint-glass  manufactories 
in  full  work  in  this  country.     To-day  it  would 
be  difficult  to  count  twenty,  and  in  a  number 


96  THE  FLINT-GLASS  TRADE 

of  these  the  output  is  not  more  than  half  what 
it  formerly  was.  All  this  time  the  importation 
of  foreign-made  flint-glass  has  been  advancing 
by  leaps  and  bounds.  It  has  been  estimated 
that  nine-tenths  of  the  flint-glass  now  sold  in 
this  country  comes  from  abroad,  while  in  some 
departments  of  the  trade  the  foreign  makers 
have  also  captured  the  whole  of  the  markets 
in  our  British  possessions,  in  South  America,  in 
Russia,  in  Spain,  and  in  other  countries.  The 
troubles  of  the  British  manufacturers  have  been 
the  opportunity  of  the  foreigners,  so  that,  while 
the  flint-glass  factories  of  the  United  Kingdom 
have  been  steadily  reduced  to  a  score,  those  of 
Germany  and  Austria  may  now  be  counted  by 
the  hundred. 

To  make  it  clear  how  the  action  of  a  trade 
union  can  have  helped  to  bring  about  con- 
sequences so  deplorable  as  those  here  described, 
it  is  necessary,  in  the  first  place,  to  explain  the 
somewhat  complicated  conditions  under  which 
the  trade  is  carried  on.  A  flint-glass  house 
employing  forty  glass-blowers,  or  "workmen," 
would  divide  the  men  into  two  different  sets, 
each  taking  six-hour  turns.  In  the  making  of 
every  article  produced  there  are  five  workers— 
the  "boy,"  the  "apprentice,"  the  "  footmaker," 
the  "  servitor,"  and  the  "  workman  " — and  these 


or  THE 

OF 


X. 

WHERE   MfeN   FIX   THE   WORK  97 

five  constitute,  in  the  order  of  precedence  named, 
what  is  technically  known  as  a  "  chair  "  of  men. 
One  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  trade,  and  one 
of  the  greatest  grievances  of  the  employers,  is 
that  the  men  themselves  fix  the  precise  amount 
of  work  that  shall  be  done  in  the  six-hour 
turn.  In  the  case  of  an  established  design  the 
"  number  "  is  given  by  the  union  officials  in  the 
district,  and  becomes  a  "district  number."  In 
the  case  of  a  new  design  the  master  is  allowed 
to  ask  his  own  men  how  many  they  will  consent 
to  produce  in  a  turn,  and  a  half-hour's  discussion 
may  follow,  in  which  the  men  will  show  a 
tendency  to  get  as  low  a  number  arranged  as 
possible,  while  the  employer  will  try  to  get  as 
high  a  number  as  he  can.  But  the  employer 
is  practically  in  the  hands  of  his  men,  and,  as 
a  rule,  the  outcome  of  the  discussion  will  be 
the  fixing  of  an  amount  of  work  which  can 
be  got  through  in  about  four  hours,  the  men 
going  home  when  they  have  done  it,  although 
they  are  paid  for  six  hours'  labour. 

This  affects  the  employer  more  than  may 
appear  on  the  surface,  inasmuch  as  in  few,  if 
any,  industries  are  the  working  charges  so  great 
in  proportion  to  the  nature  of  the  industry. 
The  furnace  must  be  kept  at  full  heat,  there 
are  men  employed  about  the  glass  house  who 

7 


98  THE   FLINT-GLASS  TRADE 

are  unproductive,  and  the  expenses  have  to  be 
borne  entirely  by  the  amount  of  work  produced. 
By  way  of  illustration  reference  may  be  made 
to  a  typical  case.  A  certain  glass  article,  largely 
in  use,  had  been  made  by  the  men  at  the 
"  number  "  of  80  per  turn.  At  one  time  English 
flint-glass  manufacturers  held  their  own  all  over 
the  world  in  regard  to  this  particular  article ; 
but  the  making  of  it  was  taken  up  by  various 
Continental  firms,  who  managed  to  capture  the 
market.  It  so  happened  that  the  80  in  question, 
though  regarded  by  the  men  as  six  hours'  work, 
were  really  done  by  them  in  about  three  hours 
and  three-quarters,  and  could  have  been  pro- 
duced in  even  less  time.  At  last  one  employer 
called  his  men  together,  told  them  how  the 
trade  in  the  said  article  was  being  lost  to  the 
country,  and  begged  them  to  increase  the  "  num- 
ber." They  agreed  to  make  100  in  their  six- 
hour  turn  instead  of  the  previous  80 — a  concession 
which  allowed  of  much  of  the  trade  being  re- 
covered. But  the  friendly  and  decidedly  wise 
arrangement  thus  arrived  at  between  the  em- 
ployer and  his  men  led  to  an  incident  which 
even  those  who  are  best  informed  in  the  ways  of 
trade  unionism  will  think  incredible.  A  promi- 
nent official  of  the  men's  national  union  wrote 
to  the  employer  to  the  effect  that,  inasmuch 


UNIONS   CHOOSE   THE   EMPLOYES         99 

as  he  had  not  been  consulted  with  respect  to 
the  arrangement  made  with  the  men,  the  old 
number  would  have  to  be  adhered  to,  and  unless 
that  were  done  all  the  men  in  the  works  would 
be  withdrawn  at  the  end  of  fourteen  days.  The 
firm  replied,  through  their  solicitor,  resenting 
the  official's  interference,  and  threatening  him 
with  legal  proceedings  if  any  loss  or  injury 
should  be  sustained  by  reason  of  his  action. 
Thereupon  the  official  intimated  that  he  "  with- 
drew "  the  notices. 

Almost,  if  not  quite,  as  incredible  is  the  fact 
that  in  the  flint-glass  trade  an  employer  is  not 
allowed  to  choose  his  own  employes.  If  he  did 
so  the  whole  body  of  men  would  be  withdrawn, 
and  his  works  stopped.  When  a  flint-glass 
employer  wants  an  additional  hand  he  must 
write  to  the  district  secretary  of  the  men's  union 
and  ask  him  to  send  him  one.  He  may  suggest 
the  person  he  would  like  to  have,  but  the  pro- 
bability is  that  the  district  secretary  will  ignore 
his  suggestion,  and  send  him  either  the  in- 
dividual who  stands  first  on  the  unemployed 
list,  or  else  somebody  he  wants  to  get  off  the 
books.  District  secretary  and  employer  alike 
may  be  perfectly  aware  that  the  person  in  ques- 
tion is  absolutely  incompetent,  but  the  employer 
is  bound  to  take  him  for  at  least  fourteen  days  ; 


100  THE   FLINT-GLASS   TRADE 

and  it  has  often  happened  that,  when  there  has 
been  friction  between  the  district  secretary  and 
an  employer,  a  man  has  been  sent  to  whom  wages 
are  duly  paid  for  the  fortnight,  though  it  is 
deemed  prudent  not  to  allow  him  to  do  a  stroke 
of  work,  lest  he  should  waste  good  material. 
On  one  occasion  a  firm  who  had  dismissed  a 
dangerously  incompetent  workman  sent  to  the 
local  secretary  as  usual,  and  received  the  very 
man  they  had  just  discharged,  being  bound  to 
put  him  on  for  another  fourteen  days  before 
they  could  get  rid  of  him  again. 

The  same  arbitrary  powers  are  exercised  by 
the  union  officials  in  regard  to  apprentices. 
Everything  possible  has  been  done  by  them  to 
prevent  new  blood  from  being  brought  into 
the  trade,  their  motive  being,  apparently,  to 
strengthen  their  own  position,  and  to  make 
sure  of  work  being  found  for  the  unemployed, 
however  in-efficient  the  latter  may  be.  More 
than  this,  they  take  away  the  reward  to  which 
smart  and  capable  young  fellows  are  entitled. 
When  a  youth  has  served  his  apprenticeship  he 
naturally  looks  forward  to  being  promoted  to 
the  next  higher  position  in  the  "  chair " — that 
of  "footmaker."  But  the  employer  is  not 
allowed  to  grant  such  promotion  without 
the  consent  of  the  trade  union  officials,  and, 


THE   TRADE   UNION   "BOSS"  101 

however  great  may  be  his  desire  to  do  justice  to 
the  youth,  it  may  happen  that  every  impedi- 
ment is  put  in  his  way.  The  usual  course  of 
procedure  is  for  the  trade  union  secretary  to 
reply  to  the  employer  that,  inasmuch  as  there 
are  so  many  footmakers  out  of  employment, 
the  society  "does  not  see  its  way"  to  consent 
to  the  promotion  of  the  apprentice,  and  if  the 
employer  really  wants  another  footmaker  the 
society  will  send  him  one.  So  it  may  come 
about  that  a  young  man  of  twenty-three  is 
still  receiving  practically  the  same  wages  as 
he  had  when  he  was  serving  his  time. 

The  claim  is  even  made  that  an  apprentice 
shall  not  be  taken  on  in  the  first  instance  without 
the  consent,  not  only  of  the  men  in  the  works, 
but  also  of  the  union  officials.  A  short  time 
ago  an  employer  who  had  the  right  to  one 
more  apprentice,  according  to  the  rules  of  the 
society,  accepted  a  lad  of  whom  his  own  men 
had  formally  approved,  and  the  boy  was  duly 
indentured.  The  next  day  the  district  official 
went  to  the  works,  called  the  boy  to  him,  and 
said,  "  Clear  out,  and  go  home."  Then,  turn- 
ing to  the  men,  he  told  them  he  could  not 
allow  the  boy  to  work,  the  reason  being  that 
the  master  and  the  lad's  father  had  not  first 
consulted  him.  The  employer  stood  his  ground, 


102  THE   FLINT-GLASS  TRADE 

but  the  union  punished  the  father — himself  a 
member — by  fining  him  £5. 

Another  illustration  of  the  truculent  tactics 
of  the  union  officials  is  shown  by  an  incident 
which  occurred  at  Brierley  Hill  a  few  years 
ago.  A  local  firm  was  asked  by  the  society  to 
re-employ  a  man  discharged  by  them  fourteen 
months  previously,  on  account  of  conduct  which 
even  the  society  could  not  uphold.  An  appeal 
was  made  to  the  feelings  of  the  firm  because 
of  the  man's  family,  and  after  some  hesitation 
they  agreed  to  reinstate  him ;  but  the  man 
refused  to  accept  the  lower  position  to  which 
they  were  willing  to  appoint  him,  though  this 
would  still  have  brought  him  in  56s.  per  week. 
Not  only  did  the  society  support  him  in  his 
claim  to  be  put  in  his  former  position,  but  they 
gave  the  employers  notice  that,  if  they  refused 
this  claim,  the  whole  of  the  men  in  their  employ 
would  be  brought  out ! 

A  still  further  insight  into  the  working  of 
the  union  is  given  by  the  following  extracts 
from  the  official  organ,  The  Flint-Glass  Makers' 
Magazine,  under  the  heading  "Names  of 
Members  in  Arrears  "  : 

owes   £2   fine  for  leaving   a   place   of  work 

without  consent  of  the  district,  which  caused  an  apprentice 
to  be  put  on. 


SLAVES   OF  THE   OFFICIALS  103 


owes  £%  to  the  trade  for  leaving  one  district 

and  going  to  another,  after  warning  and  without  consent. 
Now  working  in . 

It  may  be  wondered  why  the  men  themselves 
should  be  willing  to  become  practically  the  slaves 
of  their  union  officials,  responding  to  their  every 
beck  and  call,  though  one  would  suppose  that 
some  of  the  things  that  are  done  must  be  re- 
pugnant to  every  one  possessed  of  any  sense  of 
justice  or  a   single   spark  of  manliness.      It  is 
known,  indeed,  that  some  of  the  men  are  far 
from   satisfied  ;   but  the  great  hold  which  the 
union  officials  possess  over  them  is  to  be  found 
in   that   part   of  the   organisation  which   deals 
with    infirm    and   aged   workmen.      From  the 
time  he  joins   the   society  each  member  must 
pay  a  subscription  ranging  from  §d.  to  2s.,  or 
even  3s.,  a  week.     For  this  the  members  receive 
in  their  old  age  a  small  weekly  payment,  which 
is   out   of  all  proportion   to   the  total  amount 
they  have  paid  in,  but  is,  nevertheless,  the  one 
thing  to  which  they  look  forward  to  keep  them 
out  of  the  workhouse.     Some  of  the  men  have 
been  practically  paying  into  the  society  all  their 
working  life,  and  they  now  feel  that,  whatever 
they  are  called  upon  by  the  union  officials  to 
do,  they  must   obey  rather  than   run  the  risk 
of   losing    alike    their    employment    and    their 


104  THE   FLINT-GLASS  TRADE 

prospective  benefits.  Unfortunately,  too,  there 
is  the  danger  of  a  certain  amount  of  intimidation 
being  shown  as  well  towards  those  who  are 
troubled  with  scruples  of  conscience.  A  man 
who  once  had  the  boldness  to  speak  strongly 
in  favour  of  his  employer,  who  was  being 
vigorously  abused,  at  a  meeting  of  the  society, 
was  caught  hold  of,  carried  out  of  the  room, 
and  dropped  over  the  balusters  on  to  the  stairs, 
down  which  he  rolled  from  top  to  bottom, 
getting,  as  he  afterwards  declared,  "black  and 
blue  all  over."  So  it  comes  about,  as  the  result 
of  all  these  conditions,  that  the  men  are  drifting 
into  a  condition  of  apathy,  if  not  of  lethargy, 
which  is  having  a  disastrous  effect  on  the  whole 
trade.  Many  of  them  speak  and  act  as  though 
they  realised  that  the  industry  is  doomed,  and 
the  common  expression  among  them,  when  such 
things  are  discussed,  is,  "  Well,  it  will  last  my 
time." 

The  combined  effect  of  forcing  the,  perhaps,  in- 
efficient, unemployed  on  the  masters,  in  preference 
to  allowing  the  introduction  of  fresh  recruits, 
and  of  the  lethargy  just  spoken  of,  is  a  steady 
deterioration  in  the  capacity  of  many  of  the 
workers.  High  wages  are  paid,  for  the  men 
get  from  30s.  to  70s.  for  a  week  which  nominally 
consists  of  48  hours,  but  actually  is  not  often 


GIVING   THE   FOREIGNERS   A   CHANCE   105 

more  than  42.  Yet,  in  spite  of  such  wages  as 
these,  and  in  spite  of  the  large  number  of  un- 
employed, there  is  such  a  positive  dearth  of 
good  workmen  that  in  the  Stourbridge  district 
— the  very  headquarters  of  the  industry — it  is 
positively  declared  that  there  are  at  the  present 
time  not  more  than  four  or  five  men  possessed 
of  the  skill  and  dexterity  necessary  to  turn  out 
a  certain  class  of  articles  for  which,  in  days 
gone  by,  Great  Britain  was  famed  all  the  world 
over.  People  to  whom  such  deplorable  truths 
are  brought  home,  and  who  see  the  steady 
closing  of  one  flint-glass  works  after  another, 
may  well  find  cause  for  fear  that  the  doom  of 
one  of  the  most  interesting  of  British  industries, 
and  one  that  formerly  gave  employment  to 
thousands  of  workpeople,  is  sealed,  and  that, 
too,  for  no  other  apparent  reason  than  because 
the  officials  of  a  trade  union  are  taking  every 
step  open  to  them  that  is  calculated  to  bring 
about  its  destruction.  It  is  not  so  long  since 
"  An  Unfortunate  Glass-Master "  wrote,  in  a 
letter  to  a  provincial  paper: 

So  senseless  is  the  attitude  of  the  workmen's  leaders, 
and  so  much  do  they  seem  to  arrange  beforehand  for 
embarrassing  the  masters,  that  the  only  conclusion  left  to 
a  glass-master  is  that  some  of  the  leaders  could  not  do 
worse  if  they  were  secretly  subsidised  by  the  German 
glass-hands  to  ruin  the  English  trade. 


106  THE   FLINT-GLASS   TRADE 

With  regard  to  possible  remedies,  a  resort 
to  foreign  labour  is  regarded  as  impracticable, 
because — as  experience  has  already  shown — of 
the  intimidation  that  would  be  practised  by  the 
unionists,  and  a  resort  to  free  labour  is  also 
considered  to  be  impracticable,  because  of  the 
high  degree  of  skill  required  in  the  flint-glass 
trade  as  compared  with  other  branches  of  the 
glass  industry.  There  is  certainly  the  possibility 
that,  if  the  masters  took  a  bold  and  united  stand 
against  the  men's  society,  they  might  bring  it 
to  reason  in  the  course  of  a  few  months;  but 
it  can  only  delicately  be  suggested  that  there 
are  reasons  why  some  of  the  employers  who 
have  suffered  most  in  the  struggle  to  keep  the 
industry  going  should  not  feel  equal  to  the 
adoption  of  this  course.  All  the  same,  there 
are  sanguine  spirits  among  them  who  think  the 
trade  might  even  yet  be  saved,  provided  that 
certain  conditions  were  granted.  They  ask,  in 
the  first  place,  that  the  men  should  make  a 
fair  quantity  of  goods  in  their  six -hour  turns. 
Any  increase  in  the  production  over  and  above 
a  certain  standard  means  a  profit  to  the  em- 
ployer, either  because  he  has  more  goods  to 
sell  at  the  old  price,  or  because  he  is  enabled 
to  reduce  the  price  and  thus  occupy  a  better 
position  in  the  world's  markets.  Instead  of  the 


WHY   ORDERS   GO   ABROAD  107 

men,  as  at  present,  fixing  "  numbers "  which 
will  enable  them  to  leave  off  work  long  before 
their  six  hours  have  expired,  they  should  be 
willing  to  give  such  numbers  as  will  fairly 
occupy  them  for  the  whole  time.  An  employer 
who  found  that  large  quantities  of  a  certain 
article  were  wanted  for  India  asked  his  work- 
men what  "  number  "  they  would  make  in  their 
six  hours.  They  said  they  would  do  100.  In 
order  to  make  sure  of  a  profit  it  was  necessary 
for  the  employer  that  they  should  produce  at 
least  150  in  a  turn,  but  they  absolutely  refused 
to  attempt  any  such  number,  although  they 
could  have  made  from  170  to  180  in  the  six 
hours  without  over-straining  themselves.  They 
declined  to  do  more  than  100,  and  the  order  wrent 
to  the  Continent,  where  glass  workers  are  quite 
content  to  put  in  longer  hours  for  less  money. 

The  second  condition  is  that  the  employer 
should  have  the  right  to  engage  whatever  men 
he  pleases,  without  being  compelled  to  accept 
those  who  are  sent  to  him  by  the  trade  union 
officials  ;  the  third  is  that  he  should  be  allowed 
to  put  on  more  apprentices,  having  the  right 
to  engage  them  himself,  without  having  first  to 
seek  the  approval  both  of  his  men  and  of  the 
union  officials ;  whilst  the  fourth  and  last  of 
this  very  reasonable  list  of  suggestions  is  that 


108  THE   FLINT-GLASS   TRADE 

the  manufacturer  should  have  a  perfectly  free 
hand  in  regard  to  the  particular  classes  of  goods 
he  makes.  The  meaning  of  this  is  that,  under 
the  present  system,  whenever  one  set  of  men 
in  a  flint-glass  house  leave  off  work,  from  any 
cause  whatever,  all  the  rest  of  the  men  leave 
off  as  well ;  so  that,  in  order  to  keep  things 
going,  the  employer  is  often  obliged  to  order 
a  number  of  articles  which  he  really  does  not 
want. 

If  action  should  be  taken,  and  taken  promptly, 
along  such  lines  as  those  here  given,  there 
might  still  be  some  hope  of  saving  the  industry ; 
but  in  any  case,  the  reader  will  probably  have 
concluded  by  this  time  that  there  was  really 
no  exaggeration  in  the  manufacturer's  remarks 
quoted  at  the  outset  of  this  decidedly  dreary 
story. 


THE   BIRMINGHAM   BRASS   TRADES 

COMPLAINT  is  often  made  against  trade  unions 
that  they  are  too  disposed  to  look  solely  at  the 
individual  interests  of  the  worker,  without  regard 
to  the  conditions  of  the  economic  situation,  and 
especially  of  such  factors  therein  as  foreign  com- 
petition and  the  results  that  competition  must 
have  upon  the  prices  of  the  goods  on  which  the 
worker  is  engaged.  Recent  experiences  in  those 
brass  trades  which  form  one  of  the  staple  in- 
dustries in  the  Birmingham  district  would 
suggest  that  the  allegation  in  question  is  not 
made  without  good  cause.  Among  the  numerous 
manufacturers  themselves  there  is  a  normal 
degree  of  competition  quite  keen  enough  in  its 
way  ;  but  they  have  common  enemies  in  Ameri- 
can, and  more  especially  in  German,  rivals.  This 
foreign  competition  might,  certainly,  become 
much  more  severe  than  it  is,  and  it  might  even  be 
extremely  serious  if  the  foreign  maker  were  to 
copy  exactly  the  contour  or  pattern  of  English- 
made  brass  goods  manufactured  for  the  English 

109 


110     THE   BIRMINGHAM   BRASS   TRADES 

home  trade.     Happily,   a   considerable   portion 
of  the  foreign  supplies  bear  indication  of  their 
foreign    origin,    and    are    easily    recognised   as 
German  or  American  ;  and  in  the  brass  trades, 
at  least,  it  is  found  that  English  people,  with 
their    conservative    English   instincts,    are    still 
sufficiently  patriotic  to  pay  even  a  little  more 
for  an  English-made  article,  provided  the  differ- 
ence in  price  is  not  too  great.    Thus  far,  at  least, 
there  is  a  redeeming   feature  in   the  situation. 
But,   though    the    foreign    competition    may 
not  yet  be  extremely  serious,  it  is  undoubtedly 
severe,  and  the   manufacturer  to-day  must   be 
content  with  a  very  small  profit  on  individual 
articles,  depending  for   his   gain   on  the   possi- 
bility of  turning  out  very  large  quantities.     In 
the  trade  in  electrical  accessories,  for  instance, 
prices  are  cut  so  fine  that  there  is  hardly  any 
profit  at  all.     The  development  of  the  electric 
light  has  attained  to  so  much  greater  proportions 
in   Germany  than   in    Great    Britain  that  the 
makers  of  accessories  in  the  former  country  have 
a  distinct  advantage   over  those  in   the  latter. 
The   German   manufacturer  will    buy    English 
china,  mount  his   own  brass-work  thereon,  and 
send  the    complete    article    here,    beating    the 
English  maker  in  his  own  market.     A  leading 
manufacturer  says  that   when   he   has   told  his 


DISREGARD  OF  ECONOMIC   CONDITIONS     111 

men  of  such  things  as  this,  and  shown  them  the 
foreign-made  articles,  the  men  have  simply  given 
him  an  incredulous  smile,  without  in  any  way 
realising  the  gravity  of  the  position.  Then  there 
is  the  case  of  the  electric  light  lamp-holder,  which 
is  to  the  electric  light  what  the  burner  is  to  the 
gas-bracket.  At  one  time  the  manufacturer  was 
protected  in  this  country  by  a  patent,  and  the 
holder  sold  for  Is.  Sd.  But  the  patent  was  not 
in  force  in  Germany,  and,  as  soon  as  it  expired 
here,  the  German  makers  so  flooded  the  English 
markets  with  their  holders  that  the  price  was  at 
once  reduced  from  Is.  8d.  to  4td. 

These  are  just  a  few  illustrations  of  what 
foreign  competition  has  done  in  the  brass  trades  ; 
yet,  in  face  of  such  facts,  the  National  Society 
of  the  Amalgamated  Brass- Workers  presented  to 
the  employers  a  series  of  demands  which,  in  the 
opinion  of  those  employers,  could  not  have  been 
conceded  without  endangering  the  very  existence 
of  the  industry.  Not  only  was  a  minimum  wage 
demanded  for  adults,  but  the  society  asked  that 
it  should  be  fixed  at  what  the  employers  regarded 
as  an  "  enormously  "  high  figure — namely,  6d. 
per  hour, plus  20  per  cent.,  representing  a  minimum 
wage  of  35s.  per  week  for  every  worker  over 
twenty-one.  The  employers  represented  that, 
while  some  men  of  twenty-one  might  be  worth 


112     THE   BIRMINGHAM   BRASS   TRADES 

£4  a  week,  there  were  others  who  were  worth 
little  or  nothing,  and  that  to  give  a  minimum 
wage  of  the  proportions  demanded  would  so 
send  up  the  cost  of  production  as  to  deprive 
them  of  any  hope  they  might  retain  of  being 
able  to  meet  the  foreigner  at  all.  There  were 
various  other  things  asked  for  as  well,  such  as 
a  limitation  of  the  hours  to  54  per  week  (this 
the  employers  were  willing  to  grant),  and  the 
imposing  of  hard-and-fast  restrictions  as  to  the 
number  of  under-hands  and  also  of  boys  to  be 
employed  in  each  factory. 

Seeing  the  trade,  as  they  thought,  threatened 
with  ruin,  the  employers  raised  a  fund  among 
themselves  and  took  various  steps  in  defence 
of  their  position.  There  was  already  a  masters' 
association  for  each  branch  of  the  trade,  repre- 
sentatives of  the  different  branches  forming  a 
joint  committee.  Eventually  it  was  agreed  to 
refer  the  whole  matter  to  arbitration,  and  Sir 
David  Dale,  of  Darlington,  was  appointed  by 
the  Board  of  Trade  for  that  purpose.  The  em- 
ployers put  before  the  arbitrator  a  mass  of  facts 
bearing  on  the  harm  that  must  result  from  the 
fixing  of  so  high  a  minimum  wage  and  the  limit- 
ing of  juvenile  and  under-hand  labour,  pointing 
out  that  in  many  cases  the  Germans  and  Ameri- 
cans were  importing  brass  goods  at  a  cheaper 


SAVED   FROM   ANNIHILATION  113 

rate  than  that  at  which  they  could  be  made 
in  Birmingham.  If,  it  was  added,  any  award 
were  fixed  under  which  the  selling  price  of  the 
English-made  goods  would  have  to  be  increased, 
the  English  trade  would  be  not  only  crippled, 
but  absolutely  wiped  out.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  case  for  the  men,  as  presented  through  their 
union  officials,  showed  a  disposition  to  ignore 
the  subject  of  foreign  competition,  and  to  set 
out  the  interests  of  the  workers  alone.  In  the  re- 
sult the  arbitrator's  award,  given  at  the  end  of 
1900,  was  against  the  men  on  practically  every 
point  but  the  limitation  of  hours  to  54.  A 
minimum  wage  was  fixed,  but  it  was  put  at 
k\d.  per  hour,  plus  20  per  cent.,  instead  of  at 
the  higher  rate  which  had  been  demanded ; 
while  the  arbitrator  refused  to  interfere  with 
the  proportions  of  juvenile  labour  and  of  under- 
hands.  The  award  was  duly  accepted  by  each 
side,  and,  in  the  view  of  the  employers,  the 
Birmingham  brass  trades  were,  for  the  time 
being,  at  least,  saved  from  the  annihilation  with 
which  they  had  been  threatened. 


8 


THE   BIRMINGHAM   TINPLATE 
TRADE 

IN  the  Birmingham  tinplate  trade  the  effect 
of  the  working  of  a  very  short-sighted  trade 
union  policy  has  been  to  the  direct  prejudice, 
not  so  much  of  that  industry  itself,  as  of  the 
trade  unionists.  The  trade  referred  to  occupies 
a  leading  position  among  the  industries  of  the 
Midlands,  and  at  one  time  the  skilled  tinplate 
worker — who  produced  a  finished  article  from 
the  raw  material  with  the  help  only  of  ordinary 
tools — was  a  person  who  deserved  to  rank  among 
the  best  workmen  of  his  day.  Later  experi- 
ences have  shown,  however,  that,  in  view  of 
the  large  quantities  of  tinplate  goods  required, 
and  the  comparatively  low  prices  at  which  they 
must  be  produced  in  order  to  meet  foreign 
competition,  old-fashioned  methods  must  be 
modified  to  meet  present-day  requirements,  and 
greater  economy  secured  in  the  processes  of 
manufacture. 

One  of  the  directions  in  which  such  economy 

114 


FEMALE   LABOUR    V.   MALE  115 

was  found  possible  was  in  the  supplementing 
of  male  by  female  labour.  There  were  certain 
stages  in  the  production  of  tinplate  goods  which 
could  be  managed  quite  as  well  by  women  as 
by  men,  and  the  difference  in  the  wages  made 
this  fact  an  important  consideration  to  the  manu- 
facturer. Thus,  men  were  employed  to  set  the 
presses,  but  women  were  put  on  to  do  the 
press  work,  and  they  showed  in  it  a  dexterity 
which  no  male  worker  could  surpass.  Men, 
in  fact,  did  not  take  kindly  to  the  idea  of 
spending  their  lives  in  putting  pieces  of  tin 
under  a  press  to  be  stamped  into  particular 
shapes,  and  they  were  quite  willing  to  allow 
the  women  to  take  up  this  branch  of  the  work. 
But  the  manufacturers  found  that  women  could 
do  the  soldering  as  well,  and  that  they  did  it 
with  a  degree  of  neatness  to  which  comparatively 
few  of  the  men  could  attain.  Women  were 
also  put  on  to  do  the  riveting  ;  but  there  were 
other  stages  where  male  labour  was  thought 
desirable.  It  is,  however,  one  of  the  hard-and- 
fast  rules  of  the  Tinplate  Workers'  Association 
that  work  begun  by  either  men  or  women  should 
be  completed  by  them,  without  any  passing  from 
the  one  to  the  other.  The  association  is  also 
keen  on  the  subject  of  limiting  the  number  of 
boys  and  under-hands  employed. 


116     THE   BIRMINGHAM   TINPLATE   TRADE 

An  especially  significant  example  of  its  action 
is  afforded  by  what  it  once  did  in  the  case  of 
a  Midland  firm,  which  produces  every  year  500 
gross  of  "  hurricane  "  lanterns,  of  the  type  used 
by  the  natives  of  India.  At  that  time  the  firm 
in  question  employed  both  men  and  women  on 
the  work,  according  to  the  different  stages ;  but 
the  union  officials  came  down  upon  them  with 
a  declaration  that  certain  processes  which  the 
women  were  doing  were  men's  work,  and  should 
be  left  to  them  ;  and  they  made  a  further  de- 
mand that  the  firm  should  employ  only  one  boy 
to  every  four  men,  instead  of  two  to  every  four. 
It  so  happened  that  German  competition  in  the 
making  of  this  particular  lantern  was  very  keen, 
and  the  firm  represented  to  the  union  officials 
that  to  concede  their  demands  would  greatly 
increase  the  cost  of  production,  so  that  there 
would  be  no  margin  left  for  profit.  "  Then  you 
had  better  increase  the  price  of  your  lanterns," 
was  the  characteristic  reply  of  the  union  officials, 
with  an  apparently  blind  indifference  to  the  fact 
that  to  adopt  this  course — merely  out  of  regard 
for  trade  union  scruples — would  render  it  im- 
possible for  the  firm  to  meet  their  German 
competitors,  and  leave  them  no  alternative  but 
to  give  up  the  trade  altogether.  * 

The  firm  gave  the  officials  every  opportunity 


WOMEN   GAIN:   MEN   LOSE  117 

for  showing  that  their  claims  could  be  conceded 
without  ruining  the  industry,  but  they  failed  to 
do  so,  and  in  the  end  the  firm  cut  themselves 
free  from  trade  union  interference  by  giving 
notice  to  the  whole  of  their  union  hands,  taking 
back,  however,  those  who  were  willing  to  work 
according  to  the  wishes  of  their  employers. 
Meantime  the  firm  had  made  the  discovery  that 
women  were  quite  competent  to  turn  out  the 
lantern  in  question  themselves,  without  any  need 
whatever  to  resort  to  the  assistance  of  men. 
This  discovery  was  the  direct  outcome  of  the 
action  of  the  union  officials,  and  from  that  time 
the  500  gross  of  lanterns  per  year  have  been 
produced  solely  by  female  labour.  As  the  women 
get  14s.  or  15s.  a  week,  in  place  of  the  35s.  to 
40s.  per  week  given  to  the  men,  and  as  they 
turn  out  the  lanterns  almost  as  quickly  as  the 
men,  and,  in  some  respects,  do  their  work  even 
better,  the  result  to  the  firm  has  been  distinctly 
beneficial,  while  the  outcome  of  the  trade  union 
interference  has  been  distinctly  detrimental  to 
the  welfare  of  the  unionists  themselves.  Of 
those  of  the  men  who  had  to  leave  their  em- 
ployment, and  who  kept  faithful  to  their  union, 
many  were  walking  the  streets  for  months — at 
the  cost,  no  doubt,  of  the  union  funds — before 
they  got  work  elsewhere. 


118     THE   BIRMINGHAM   TINPLATE   TRADE 

There  is  another  firm  which  manufactures, 
among  other  things,  a  cart  candle  lamp  of  so 
neat  a  design  that,  provided  the  price  be  kept 
down,  it  has  a  fair  chance  of  competing  with 
the  cheaper  but  less  attractive  German  lamp  of 
the  same  class.  The  firm  put  women  on  to  do 
most  of  the  work,  and  they,  too,  found  that  the 
wromen  did  the  soldering  more  neatly  than  the 
men.  But  they  wanted  a  man  to  fix  in  the 
coloured  glass  at  the  back  of  the  lamp,  to  see 
that  the  riveting  had  been  properly  done,  and 
to  look  at  other  details  where  masculine  skill 
and  judgment  seemed  desirable.  So  they  ap- 
pointed a  man  at  day  wage,  giving  him  the 
trade  union  rate  of  wages,  and  the  man  was 
well  satisfied  with  his  post ;  but  the  trade  union 
secretary  intimated  that  the  arrangement  could 
not  be  allowed,  and  the  firm  gave  way  rather 
than  have  any  trouble.  The  man  lost  his  place, 
and  the  work  is  now  done  entirely  by  women 
and  youths. 

Another  manufacturer  introduced  a  machine 
for  riveting  cycle  lamps,  but  put  a  tinman  on 
to  the  work  rather  than  dislodge  him,  although 
no  skilled  labour  was  required.  The  tinman  got 
tired  of  the  job  and  left  it,  and  the  manufacturer 
then  put  two  odd  men  in  the  tinman's  place. 
The  society  objected,  and  threatened  to  call  out 


SALVATION   IN   MACHINERY  119 

all  its  members.  The  employer  surrendered,  but 
soon  effected  such  a  re-arrangement  in  his  works 
that  he  was  able  to  dispense  with  men  altogether 
and  employ  only  women.  This  is  an  illustration 
of  a  very  distinct  change  that  has  been  proceeding 
of  late  years  in  the  tinplate  trade.  There  has 
been  increased  inducement  to  employers  to  in- 
troduce more  and  more  machinery,  wherever 
possible,  in  order  to  overcome  the  restrictive 
tactics  of  the  men's  union.  Even  in  a  new  trade 
like  that  of  bicycle  accessories,  the  union  wanted 
to  impose  old-fashioned  rules  and  demands  that 
were  quite  out  of  date,  and  this,  too,  although 
the  margin  of  possible  profit  on  the  articles  in 
question  is  almost  infinitesimal.  The  manu- 
facturers have,  consequently,  resorted  to  the 
use  of  automatic  machinery  similar  to  that 
employed  in  the  United  States,  and  union 
hands  are  no  longer  wanted  in  this  branch 
at  all. 

To  attempt  to  conduct  the  tinplate  trade 
according  to  the  ideas  of  the  men's  union  would 
mean  that  the  employers — who  already  have  to 
keep  their  prices  to  the  lowest  possible  level- 
would  not  be  able  to  compete  with  the  foreigner 
at  all.  At  present  they  themselves  manage  to 
hold  their  own,  more  or  less  ;  but  the  whole 
effect  of  the  policy  of  the  tinplate  workers' 


120    THE   BIRMINGHAM   TINPLATE   TRADE 

union  is  to  threaten  with  complete  extinction 
the  skilled  tinman  as  known  to  British  industry 
a  generation  ago,  and  to  substitute  for  him  an 
assortment  of  machines  worked  or  supplemented 
by  women,  youths,  and  unskilled  labour. 


GUNMAKERS   AND   TECHNICAL 
INSTRUCTION 

THERE  is  still  another  Birmingham  trade  to 
which  reference  should  be  made,  inasmuch  as  it 
affords  an  illustration  of  the  natural  antipathy 
that  certain  types  of  trade  union  officials  seem 
to  entertain  towards  any  scheme  proposed  by 
employers  which  may  have  the  effect  of  bringing 
about  the  increased  efficiency  of  those  engaged 
in  their  particular  industry.  The  trade  in 
question  is  the  Birmingham  gun  trade — that  is 
to  say,  the  trade  in  the  manufacture  of  sporting 
guns,  as  distinguished  from  that  in  military 
rifles  carried  on  in  such  factories  as  that  of 
the  Birmingham  Small  Arms  Company.  The 
system  of  apprenticeship  has  died  out  in  the 
trade,  and  such  is  the  position  of  affairs  that 
there  is  an  absolute  dearth  of  skilled  hands. 
There  is  plenty  of  "  middle  class  "  labour — that 
is,  of  men  who  can  earn  from  25s.  to  30s.  a 
week ;  but  of  really  skilled  men,  worth  their 
£2  or  their  £2  5s.,  there  is  declared  to  be  not 

121 


BIRMINGHAM   GUNMAKERS 

one  to  spare.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the 
development  of  the  cycle  trade  has  had  a  great 
deal  to  do  with  bringing  about  this  scarcity,  the 
skilled  gunmakers  leaving  their  own  trade  for 
the  other ;  but  the  chief  cause  has  been  the 
distinct  lack  of  adequate  facilities  for  giving 
to  youths  such  a  degree  of  training  in  gun- 
making  as  will  enable  them  to  develop  into 
really  skilled  workers.  The  system  hitherto  in 
vogue  has  been  for  lads  to  begin  as  errand-boys 
for  some  of  the  workmen  in  the  factories,  to 
work  occasionally  at  the  vice,  and  then  gradually 
to  rise  to  one  particular  branch.  But  the  sole 
interest  which  the  master- workman  has  in  such 
a  boy  is  to  get  all  the  use  he  can  out  of  him, 
to  his  own  immediate  profit,  and  it  is  not  to 
be  expected  that  he  will  spend  too  much  of 
his  time  in  giving  him  an  all-round  experience, 
or  in  explaining  to  him  technical  details  for 
educational  purposes  only.  Thus,  unless  the  lad 
is  exceptionally  sharp,  or  is  under  an  especially 
conscientious  master- workman,  he  grows  up  only 
a  second-class  hand,  and  never  attains  to  the 
rank  of  a  really  skilful  worker. 

A  different  policy  has  been  adopted  on  the 
Continent,  and  in  Germany  and  Belgium,  more 
especially,  some  very  successful  schools  of  gun- 
making  have  been  established.  At  Lidge  there  is 


A   QUESTION   OF  TRAINING  123 

one  where  140  boys  receive  a  systematic  practical 
training  in  the  art  of  making  guns.  In  view  of 
the  increasing  competition  in  the  gun  trade,  one 
would  naturally  assume  that,  if  the  manufacturers 
here  are  to  hold  their  own  against  Continental 
rivals,  there  should  be  no  falling  off  in  the 
comparative  efficiency  of  the  workmen.  There 
has  been  the  greater  need  for  action  because  of 
an  apparently  increasing  disinclination  on  the 
part  of  boys  to  enter  the  trade  under  the  old 
conditions,  while  no  boy  can  hope  to  develop 
into  a  highly  skilled  worker  in  a  less  period 
than  five  years. 

With  the  view  of  providing  for  what  thus 
seemed  to  be  a  distinct  need,  the  guardians  of 
the  Birmingham  Proof-house  inserted  in  a  Bill 
which  they  brought  into  Parliament,  to  amend 
the  Gun  Barrel  Proof  Act,  1868,  clauses  which 
would  allow  them  to  expend  on  practical  training 
in  gunmaking  certain  accumulated  funds  under 
their  control,  amounting  altogether  to  about 
£20,000.  Thereupon  the  Gunmakers'  Union 
claimed  that,  inasmuch  as  this  provision  was  to 
be  made  for  educational  purposes,  the  workmen 
should  be  allowed  to  have  three  nominees  on 
the  Proof-house  Board  of  Guardians.  This  body 
is,  as  specified  by  Act  of  Parliament,  essen- 
tially one  of  employers  only,  and  the  guardians 


BIRMINGHAM   GUNMAKERS 

declined  to  concede  the  point  asked  for.  The 
Gunmakers'  Union — which,  it  may  be  mentioned, 
does  not  include  in  its  ranks  the  best  class  of 
workmen,  and  has  little  or  no  weight  with  the 
employers — persisted  in  its  demand,  for  which 
it  managed  to  gain  such  support  before  the 
Parliamentary  Committee  that  the  guardians 
dropped  the  Bill  altogether.  But  they  did  not 
abandon  their  educational  scheme.  Declaring 
that  they  were  already  empowered  by  Act  of 
Parliament  to  devote  their  surplus  funds  to 
promoting  the  interests  of  the  trade,  they 
proposed  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  trade 
in  1901  that  classes  for  teaching  practically 
the  art  of  gunmaking  should  be  started  on 
an  experimental  scale.  This  was  unanimously 
agreed  to,  and  the  Gunmakers'  Union  was 
invited  to  act  on  the  particular  body  which 
would  have  the  supervision  of  these  classes. 
Then  the  officials  of  the  union  showed  their 
hand.  They  had  been  offered  25  per  cent,  of 
the  representation,  but  they  refused  all  co- 
operation on  the  ground  (1)  that  the  guardians 
aimed  at  flooding  the  trade  with  workmen,  to 
the  disadvantage  of  those  at  present  employed 
in  it ;  (2)  that  they  aimed  at  cheapening  labour, 
in  order  that  they  might  be  able  to  make  the 
lowest  class  of  guns,  similar  to  those  imported 


OFFICIAL  SCRUPLES  125 

from  Belgium ;  and  (3)  that  practical  teaching 
could  best  be  given  in  the  workshops.  After 
what  has  been  already  said  it  is  hardly  worth 
while  to  enter  on  a  detailed  discussion  of  these 
three  allegations.  The  first  of  them,  however, 
is  sufficiently  answered  by  the  fact  that,  out  of 
the  first  twenty-five  boys  received  into  the  classes 
—which  were  formally  opened  in  two  rooms  at 
the  Proof-house,  Banbury-street,  Birmingham, 
in  the  autumn  of  1901  -  -  twenty-one  were 
already  in  the  trade.  What  opinion  should  be 
formed  of  the  whole  course  of  action  taken 
in  the  matter  by  the  Gunmakers'  Union  can 
well  be  left  to  the  judgment  of  the  reader. 


SHEFFIELD   TRADES 

IN  most  of  those  "lighter"  trades  on  which, 
before  the  advent  of  armour  plates  and  other 
such  things  of  the  "  heavy "  type,  Sheffield 
mainly  relied  for  her  prosperity,  one  hears  the 
same  story  of  steady  decadence  and  of  a  transfer 
of  more  or  less  of  the  trade  into  the  hands 
of  foreign  competitors.  For  this  result  hostile 
tariffs  are  undoubtedly  responsible  to  a  certain 
extent,  but  there  are  various  characteristics  and 
peculiarities  of  the  trades  in  question  that  render 
them  especially  deserving  of  study. 

One  of  the  most  striking  features  in  the  situa- 
tion is  the  breakdown  of  the  apprenticeship 
system.  The  old  custom  of  boys  being  appren- 
ticed to  master-workmen  at  the  age  of  fourteen, 
and  remaining  with  them  until  twenty-one,  grew 
into  disfavour  with  such  master-workmen  be- 
cause they  found  that  when  the  apprentices 
reached  the  age  of  eighteen  or  nineteen,  and 
were  beginning  to  be  both  useful  and  profitable, 
they  would  yield  to  the  temptation  of  a  few 

126 


LIMITING  THE   RECRUITS  127 

shillings  higher  wages,  disregard  their  inden- 
tures, and  go  to  work  elsewhere — a  course  they 
were  practically  free  to  take  because  of  a  re- 
luctance on  the  part  of  the  apprentices'  masters 
to  enforce  their  rights,  this  reluctance  being 
mainly  due  to  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  any 
effective  redress.  It  was  short-sighted  policy 
on  the  part  of  the  apprentices,  who  gained  a 
temporary  advantage,  but  lost  the  chance  of 
becoming  good  all-round  workmen,  as  they 
might  have  done  had  they  completed  their 
training ;  while,  as  regards  the  master- workmen, 
it  became  more  and  more  difficult  to  get  them . 
to  take  apprentices  whom  they  could  not  de- 
pend on  keeping. 

Coupled  with  these  adverse  conditions,  there 
was  the  fixed  policy  of  the  trade  unions,  almost 
without  exception,  to  reduce  to  the  lowest 
possible  limits  the  entrance  of  newcomers  into 
the  different  occupations,  so  as  to  keep  lucra- 
tive industries  in  the  hands  of  those  already 
engaged  in  them,  to  maintain  a  high  rate  of 
wages,  to  ensure  that  there  would  always  be 
employment  for  those  in  possession,  and  to  give 
to  the  workers  a  greater  power  of  control  over 
the  employers  generally.  And  when  reference 
is  made  to  Sheffield  trade  unions  it  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  in  the  "  lighter  "  industries 


128  SHEFFIELD   TRADES 

there  is  a  different  union  for  each  process  in 
the  making  of  each  class  of  articles.  It  is  not 
enough,  for  instance,  that  there  should  be  a 
forgers'  union.  There  is  a  separate  and  distinct 
union  for  table-knife  forgers,  pen-knife  forgers, 
scissors  forgers,  razor  forgers,  file  forgers,  and 
so  on  with  other  processes  and  other  goods. 
Thus  the  men  employed  by  a  single  manu- 
facturer may  be  members  of  twenty  different 
unions,  most  of  which  guard  with  the  greatest 
jealousy  the  demarcations  of  their  own  work, 
and  would  not  make  the  slightest  concession 
either  to  the  members  of  another  union  or  to 
their  common  employer.  Most  of  these  unions 
are  small  in  numbers,  and  have  not  much  in 
the  way  of  accumulated  funds,  so  that  if  at 
any  time  the  employers  really  wanted  to  gain 
the  mastery  over  them,  and  would  only  agree 
to  combine,  and  to  support  the  weaker  ones 
among  themselves,  it  should  be  quite  possible 
for  them  to  succeed.  But,  though  the  trade 
unions  may  be  small  individually,  they  agree 
collectively  on  two  things — first,  in  wanting 
to  keep  their  trades,  as  far  as  possible,  in  the 
hands  of  those  who  are  in  it ;  and  secondly,  in 
practically  retaining  the  power  to  fix  the  rate 
of  wages.  The  first  aspiration  they  secure  by 
either  prohibiting  the  taking  on  of  apprentices 


ORGANISED  SHORTAGE  OF  LABOUR 

altogether  for  a  stated  period,  or  by  limiting 
them  to  the  sons  of  those  already  in  the  trade 
or  to  a  very  small  number  of  outsiders ;  the 
second  aim  they  realise  by  working  (on  piece 
wages)  according  to  more  or  less  ancient  "  state- 
ments "  for  established  articles,  bargaining  with 
their  employers  when  new  patterns  are  intro- 
duced, but  varying  these  "standard"  rates  for 
different  factories  according  to  the  amount  they 
think  they  can  get  out  of  individual  firms. 

Thus  the  plea  that  trade  unions  are  useful 
because  they  establish  a  recognised  rate  of  pay 
for  the  whole  trade,  so  placing  one  manufacturer 
on  the  same  level  as  another,  does  not  apply 
in  the  case  of  Sheffield.  In  that  town  the 
unions  may  accept  variations  in  the  rate  of  pay 
in  different  houses  in  the  same  trade  to  a  very 
considerable  extent,  the  higher  rates  being  im- 
posed on  the  large  concerns,  and  the  lower  on 
the  small  masters ;  and,  as  the  small  masters 
are  numerous,  the  effect  is  to  make  them,  in 
the  aggregate,  strong  competitors  of  the  im- 
portant establishments,  and  render  difficult  any 
real  combination  on  the  part  of  the  whole  body 
of  employers.  There  is  another  respect,  too,  in 
which  the  men  can  play  off  one  employer  against 
another.  Owing  to  the  organised  shortage  of 
labour,  a  master  who  wants  an  additional  hand 

9 


ISO  SHEFFIELD  TRADES 

can,  in  certain  of  the  trades,  only  hope  to  get 
one  by  inducing  an  employe  from  some  other 
establishment  to  join  his  service.  But  the  men 
know  their  market  value,  and  hence  it  is  the 
practice  in  several  industries  to  give  a  man  a 
bounty  of  up  to  £10  on  his  taking  over  a  new 
place.  In  other  words  he  gets  a  bribe  of  £10 
to  leave  one  employer  and  go  to  another. 

Add  to  this  shortage  of  labour  and  to  this 
keeping  up  of  wages  an  almost  unyielding 
opposition  to  machinery,  and  it  will  be  under- 
stood how  handicapped  the  employers  in  the 
«  lighter  "  Sheffield  trades  have  been.  Sheffield 
goods  retain  their  fame  all  the  world  over,  and 
the  demand  for  them  is  generally  more  or  less 
active ;  but  the  employers  find  it  difficult  to 
execute  the  orders  they  receive,  and  the  goods 
that  cannot  be  made  in  Sheffield  are  obtained 
elsewhere,  with  the  result  that  where  the  balance 
goes  the  bulk  generally  follows.  Twenty  or 
thirty  years  ago  the  orders  for  this  balance  went 
mostly  to  Germany,  because  of  the  cheaper  labour 
there ;  to-day  the  great  competitor,  in  various 
lines,  is  America.  Manufacturers  in  the  United 
States  lay  down  machinery  which  enables  them 
to  turn  out  vast  quantities  of  articles  at  a  very 
low  rate ;  they  sell  in  their  own  protected 
markets,  at  a  good  profit,  goods  that  have  cost 


"OPEN   DOOR"  TO   "DUMPING"         131 

less  to  produce  because  of  the  enormous  output, 
and  they  can  well  afford  to  keep  their  machinery 
running,  and  send  their  surplus  either  to  Great 
Britain  or  to  the  British  colonies  to  be  disposed 
of  at  cost  price,  covering  themselves,  and  making 
it  impossible  for  the  British  producers  (especially 
under  the  particular  circumstances  narrated 
above)  to  compete  with  them ;  while  our  own 
manufacturers  are  shut  out  from  the  home 
markets  of  their  successful  rivals  by  reason  of 
hostile  tariffs.  A  number  of  Sheffield  trades  are 
seriously  affected  in  this  way,  and  there  would 
seem  to  be  abundant  reason  for  some  degree 
of  joint  action  on  the  part  of  employers  and 
employed  in  those  trades,  in  a  recognitipn  of 
their  community  of  interest,  for  the  purpose  of 
doing  what  is  possible  to  overcome  the  diffi- 
culties of  the  situation. 

BRITANNIA-METAL  SMITHS 
To  pass  from  the  general  to  the  particular,  it 
may  be  of  interest  to  show  what  is  the  actual 
position  of  affairs  in  some  of  the  more  repre- 
sentative trades ;  and  as  a  type  of  the  trade 
unions  concerned  reference  may  be  made  to  the 
Britannia-Metal  Smiths'  Provident  Society.  The 
union  is  said  to  have  only  between  300  and  400 
members,  and  it  is  in  the  hands  of  this  number 


SHEFFIELD  TRADES 

of  men  that  it  seeks  to  keep  the  Britannia- metal 
smiths'  trade  of  Sheffield.  According  to  the 
employers  the  trade  is  seriously  underhanded, 
and  there  are  not  enough  men  to  do  the  busi- 
ness. Foreign  competition  has  made  serious 
inroads  into  the  industry  ;  yet,  if  a  sudden  influx 
of  orders  came  to  hand,  there  would  not  be 
enough  workers  to  execute  them. 

How  the  men's  society  seeks  to  limit  the 
number  of  hands  in  the  trade  is  shown  by  the 
following  extracts  from  its  rules  in  reference  to 
apprentices  : 

No  journeyman  shall  take  an  apprentice,  except  such 
be  his  own  or  a  journeyman's  son,  who  must  be  under 
seventeen  years  of  age,  but  he  cannot  have  an  apprentice 
in  addition  to  his  own  son  or  sons.  No  man  shall  take 
a  lad  to  work  with  him  until  he  is  himself  twenty-five 
years  of  age. 

No  master  shall  have  more  than  one  apprentice  at  one 
time  ;  if  two  or  more  partners  they  can  have  one  each  ; 
and  for  limited  company's  (sic)  for  the  first  ten  men,  or 
fractional  part  thereof,  one  boy  ;  from  eleven  to  twenty- 
five  men,  two  boys ;  and  so  raising  one  boy  to  every  fifteen 
additional  men. 

But  it  would  seem  that  this  latter  rule  was 
considered  too  generous  ;  for  in  1892  the  right 
of  employers  to  have  apprentices  was  suspended 
for  five  years,  and  in  1897  the  suspension  was 
renewed  for  another  five  years.  The  result  has 
been  to  impose  on  the  employers  a  great  injustice, 


TRADE   UNION   LAW  133 

especially  in  view  of  the  insufficiency  of  labour, 
while  men  have  to  be  employed,  at  men's  wages, 
to  do  odd  jobs  about  the  works  which  otherwise 
would  be  done  by  boys.  It  is  probable  that 
the  master  metal-smiths  will  be  reduced  to  the 
necessity,  either  of  fighting  the  point  with 
the  union,  or  of  relinquishing  the  trade  and 
leaving  it  entirely  in  the  hands  of  their  German 
rivals. 

Here  are  some  other  of  the  rules  of  the 
Britannia-Metal  Smiths'  Provident  Society, 
further  showing  the  lines  on  which  it  is  con- 
ducted : 

Any  man  engaging  himself  to  work  at  a  manufactory 
where  there  is  a  dispute,  and  refusing  to  leave  when 
requested  by  a  deputation  from  the  committee,  or  hiring 
himself  so  that  he  cannot  leave,  shall  be  fined  £5,  and 
shall  be  compelled  to  pay  the  whole  sum,  as  well  as  any 
arrears  of  contribution,  before  he  is  allowed  to  work  at 
any  of  our  places  (sic).  No  man  shall  be  allowed  to  hire 
himself  to  any  employer,  on  any  pretence  whatever. 

That  no  member  shall  sign  any  document  detrimental 
to  our  rules. 

Any  man  making  a  new  article  must  have  it  priced  by 
the  whole  of  the  men  in  the  factory,  and  not  by  himself, 
under  a  penalty  of  =£?!,  and  the  price  set  by  himself  will 
not  be  acknowledged. 

Members  seeking  work  must  first  see  the  secretary  and 
ascertain  if  there  are  any  places  where  men  are  prohibited 
from  going,  and  any  member  applying  for  a  situation 
before  ascertaining  this  information,  or  acting  contrary 


134  SHEFFIELD  TRADES 

to  the  secretary's  instructions  in  the  case,  shall  be  fined 
2s.  6d.y  and  any  member  going  to  work  at  a  new  situation 
without  first  obtaining  from  the  secretary  his  clearance 
card  shall  also  be  fined  %s.  6d.,  the  card  to  be  given  to 
the  factory  collector,  who  shall  ask  for  it.  Clearance 
cards  can  only  be  obtained  by  members  who  are  clear  on 
the  books. 

To  be  "  clear  on  the  books "  means  that  all 
subscriptions  to  the  union  have  been  paid  up 
to  date. 

SILVERSMITHS 

In  the  silver  and  electro-plate  trades — that 
is,  electro-plate  on  German  silver,  as  distinct 
from  electro-plate  on  Britannia-metal — there  are 
the  same  attempts  by  the  men's  union  to  limit 
the  number  of  apprentices,  and,  though  the  trade 
has  not  been  reduced  to  the  same  small  pro- 
portions as  the  Britannia-metal  trade,  there  is  a 
distinct  shortage  of  men.  It  is  declared  that  of 
entree  dishes,  trays,  and  other  articles  which  re- 
quire careful  hammering,  30  per  cent,  more  could 
be  produced  in  Sheffield  if  only  there  were  enough 
skilled  hammerers  to  do  the  work;  and,  as  it 
happens,  the  work  is  of  a  kind  where  machinery 
would  be  of  little  avail.  It  is  complained,  too, 
that  there  is  a  marked  falling  off  in  the  quality 
of  the  Sheffield  silversmiths'  work,  the  men 
taking  less  pains  with  it  than  in  former  days ; 


A  TRADE  THAT  HAS  NOT  GROWN     185 

but  this  is  attributed  in  good  part  to  the  fact 
that  electro-plate  will  cover  many  imperfections, 
whereas  when,  in  the  days  of  the  old  Sheffield 
plate,  a  man  accidentally  worked  through  the  thin 
sheet  of  silver  rolled  on  to  copper,  which  was 
the  material  he  then  used,  the  whole  article  was 
spoiled.  The  present-day  falling  off  is,  indeed, 
attributed  not  so  much  to  trade  unionism  as  to 
the  frailties  of  human  nature. 


THE   CUTLERY  TRADES 

There  are  various  branches  in  the  cutlery 
trades,  which  comprise  pen-knives,  pocket  or 
jack  knives  (including  daggers,  etc.),  scissors, 
razors,  and  table  cutlery,  the  men  in  each  branch 
having  their  separate  unions  ;  and  these,  generally 
speaking,  accept  the  same  policy  of  making 
separate  terms  with  individual  masters,  restricting 
the  labour  supply,  and  so  on.  The  scissors 
branch,  especially,  is  a  typical  instance  of  the 
failure  of  a  trade  to  grow.  At  one  time  Sheffield 
occupied  a  pre-eminent  position  for  its  manu- 
facture of  scissors  ;  but  the  trade  began  to  de- 
cline in  1875,  partly  owing  to  a  substantial 
advance  of  prices,  and  partly  because  of  an  un- 
willingness to  adopt  new  methods.  In  the  early 
days  of  the  Sheffield  trade  scissors  were  produced 


136  SHEFFIELD  TRADES 

there  by  hand-forging  from  a  rod  of  steel,  and  the 
output  was  consequently  limited  to  the  amount 
of  work  done  by  the  hand-forgers,  who  formed 
a  very  close  union  indeed.  At  that  time  there 
was  no  possibility  of  getting  the  scissors  except 
as  forged  by  trade  union  workers  at  trade  union 
prices.  But  the  German  manufacturers  adopted 
the  system  of  casting  scissors,  and  they  followed 
this  up  by  stamping  them,  producing  so  cheap 
an  article  that  they  captured  the  British  colonies 
— which  formerly  had  their  scissors  entirely  from 
Sheffield — and  obtained  a  firm  hold  on  the 
English  market  as  well.  Yet,  whenever  efforts 
were  made  to  introduce  stamping  into  the 
Sheffield  scissors  trade,  in  place  of  forging,  the 
grinders'  union  refused  to  make  any  concessions 
in  price  on  having  placed  in  their  hands  an 
article  they  could  finish  with  less  trouble  than 
before.  Consequently  the  Sheffield  manufacturer 
found  there  would  not  be  a  sufficient  saving  to 
justify  his  putting  down  stamping  machinery, 
and  he  has  had  to  be  content  to  see  the  trade 
drift  more  and  more  into  the  hands  of  the 
Germans.  It  is  now  said  to  be  dying  out  in 
Sheffield.  Yet  there  are  not  enough  men  to  do 
even  the  work  that  is  left,  for  the  number  of 
scissors-makers  has  substantially  decreased,  and 
is  much  below  actual  requirements.  A  grinder 


MACHINERY  RENDERED  UNPROFITABLE     137 

may  not  take  an  apprentice  until  he  himself  is 
twenty-eight,  and  then  the  youth  he  takes  must 
be  the  son  of  a  grinder.  So  restricted  is  the 
supply  of  labour  that  sometimes  when  the  em- 
ployers are  in  want  of  extra  hands  they  hardly 
know  which  way  to  turn;  while  in  the  matter 
of  wages  the  men  send  in  word  when  they  want 
more,  and  the  employers  must  either  concede 
the  advance  or  prepare  for  a  strike. 


THE   RAZOR  TRADE 

Almost  the  same  remarks  as  those  made 
concerning  scissors  apply  also  to  razors.  Hollow- 
ground  razors  are  the  fashion ;  and  hollow 
grinding  can  be  done  just  as  well  at  Sheffield 
as  in  Germany.  The  German  manufacturer 
produces  his  blanks  by  stamping  with  hydraulic 
presses,  and,  though  there  is  no  saving  on  this 
first  process,  there  is  a  saving  on  the  second, 
that  of  grinding.  But  in  Sheffield  the  razor 
grinders'  union  is  unwilling  to  allow  for  stamped 
hollow  blanks  (which  represent  a  substantial  de- 
crease of  labour  for  the  grinders)  any  adequate 
concession,  so  that  here  again  there  is  no  in- 
ducement for  the  Sheffield  manufacturer  to  put 
down  stamping  machinery,  and  the  German 
competition  is  unchecked. 


138  SHEFFIELD  TRADES 

THE   SAW  TRADE 

The  making  of  saws  was  one  of  the  leading 
industries  in  Sheffield  thirty  or  forty  years  ago. 
To-day  the  condition  of  the  trade  is  deplorable. 
It  has  been  almost  completely  captured  by 
the  manufacturers  in  the  United  States.  They 
were  the  first  to  put  down  machines  for  both 
grinding  and  finishing,  and  while,  at  first,  some 
of  the  manufacturers  on  this  side  were  too 
slow  to  see  how  their  transatlantic  competitors 
were  going  ahead,  others  who  did  see,  and  who 
sought  to  introduce  similar  machinery  here, 
found  it  bitterly  opposed  by  the  men's  unions. 
Such  opposition  is  no  longer  offered  ;  but,  in 
the  meantime,  the  American  makers  have  got 
so  firm  a  hold  on  the  world's  markets  that  the 
Sheffield  makers  cannot  hope  to  overtake  them. 

In  the  United  States  standardised  sizes  are 
turned  out  by  machinery  in  enormous  quantities, 
and  they  are  sold  so  cheaply  that  the  home 
consumers  forgo  their  desire  for  special  sizes,— 
which,  indeed,  the  manufacturers  decline  to 
produce, — and  the  surplus  is  sent  to  England, 
Canada,  or  elsewhere  to  be  sold  at  cost  price, 
or  little  more.  The'  Sheffield  saw-manufacturers 
are  struggling  to  keep  as  much  of  the  trade  as 
they  can,  and  for  the  limited  number  of  men 


AMERICAN    F.   SHEFFIELD   METHODS     139 

available  there  is  work  enough  ;  but  inasmuch 
as  the  men,  through  their  union,  want  to  keep 
that  work  to  themselves,  and  disapprove  of 
apprentices,  it  would  look  as  if  the  industry 
cannot  expect  to  outlive  the  present  workers. 

EDGE  TOOLS 

Sheffield  manufacturers  of  edge  tools,  and 
especially  of  carpenters'  tools,  are  so  heavily 
handicapped,  alike  by  the  American  "  surplus  " 
system  and  by  the  policy  of  the  edge  tool 
grinders'  union,  that  they  have  little  chance  of 
being  able  to  hold  their  own  against  foreign 
competition.  In  the  United  States  one  man 
does  the  grinding,  which  is  skilled  and  heavy 
work,  and  another  does  the  polishing,  which 
involves  only  light  and  unskilled  labour.  Sub- 
divided in  this  way,  the  work  is  turned  out 
better,  more  quickly,  and  at  less  cost  than  if  it 
were  all  done  by  one  man.  But  the  Sheffield 
edge  tool  grinders  have  laid  down  the  law  that 
the  two  processes  shall  be  done  by  the  same 
man,  for  the  reason  both  that  they  think  it 
would  be  unfair  for  one  person  to  do  all  the 
hard  work  and  another  to  do  all  the  easy  work, 
and  that  for  a  man  to  take  up  the  polishing 
after  he  has  done  the  grinding  is  "like  giving 
him  a  rest."  That  the  employer  must,  in 


140  SHEFFIELD  TRADES 

consequence,  have  a  grinding-wheel  twice  as 
large  as  would  otherwise  be  sufficient ;  that 
more  space  is  taken  up  for  the  factory,  and 
substantially  greater  expense  incurred  ;  and  that 
the  work  turned  out  costs  more  and  is  not 
so  well  done, — are  considerations  that  do  not 
concern  the  men's  union.  So  the  American 
makers  get  a  still  better  chance  than  they 
would  otherwise  have,  even  under  their  dumping 
system,  to  come  here  and  secure  a  big  slice  of 
the  trade.  On  the  Continent,  too,  the  French 
have  captured  most  of  the  markets  with 
carpenters'  tools  which  have  a  much  finer  finish 
than  the  Sheffield  makes ;  though  such,  it  is 
declared,  would  not  be  the  case  if  the  Sheffield 
workers  would  only  follow  the  American  and 
the  French  practice,  and  leave  the  polishing 
to  be  done  by  men  working  apart  from  the 
grinding. 

FILE-MAKING 

Still  another  of  the  "lighter"  Sheffield  in- 
dustries into  which  the  Americans  have  made 
serious  inroads  is  that  of  file-making ;  and  here 
again  the  cause  is  due  to  the  good  use  to 
which  they  have  put  machinery.  American 
manufacturers  took  to  file-making  machinery  at 
once,  there  being  no  hand-labour  available  for 


A  SPIRIT  OF  CONTENTMENT          141 

them,  and  they  got  a  good  start  before  the 
Sheffield  manufacturers,  wanting  to  follow  the 
example  thus  set,  had  induced  their  workpeople 
to  abandon  their  prejudices  to  the  use  of 
machinery.  Even  now  the  Americans  obtain 
a  very  much  better  output  from  the  file-cutting 
machines  in  proportion  to  the  wages  paid  than 
is  the  case  in  Sheffield.  There  is  not  much 
trade  union  restriction  among  the  machine  file- 
cutters,  whose  society  is  of  very  little  account 
(though  there  is  plenty  of  strong  unionism 
among  the  file  forgers  and  grinders) ;  and  the 
fact  that  the  English  workers  of  such  machines 
do  not  give  the  same  intensity  of  application 
to  them  that  the  American  operatives  do  is 
attributed  rather  to  a  lack  of  ambition  on  their 
part,  and  to  a  spirit  of  contentment  which 
prompts  them  to  be  satisfied  with  the  wages 
they  get — such  wages  ranging  from  30s.  to  £3 
a  week — rather  than  to  try  to  earn  more  by 
working  harder.  But  the  comparative  prosperity 
which  gives  them  this  spirit  of  contentment  is 
due  solely  to  the  use  of  that  machinery  to  which 
they,  in  their  younger  days,  or  their  fathers 
before  them,  strongly  objected  ;  while,  but  for 
the  introduction  of  file-cutting  machines,  the 
whole  industry  would,  by  this  time,  have  been 
swept  away  from  Sheffield  altogether. 


142  SHEFFIELD   TRADES 

THE   FUTURE   OF  THE   SHEFFIELD  TRADES 

In  view  of  the  shortage  of  labour  deliberately 
brought  about  by  the  trade  unions  in  most  of 
the  " lighter"  trades  of  Sheffield— and  this, 
too,  notwithstanding  the  severity  of  foreign 
competition — it  would  seem  to  the  average 
person  that  the  trades  themselves  must  die  out 
with  the  present  generation  from  sheer  lack  of 
workers  to  carry  them  on.  But  there  is  an 
increasing  disposition  among  the  employers  not 
to  remain  at  the  mercy  of  the  trade  unions, 
and  various  remedies  are  suggested,  the  chief 
of  which  is  a  greater  resort  to  machinery  for 
the  purpose  both  of  securing  more  freedom 
and  of  overcoming  the  restriction  of  labour 
difficulty.  Thirty  years  ago  there  was  practically 
no  machinery  in  the  lighter  Sheffield  trades, 
except  some  power  for  grinding  or  polishing, 
and  most  of  the  trades  were  practically  skilled 
handicrafts  which  it  took  a  boy  a  full  period  of 
seven  years  to  properly  learn.  To-day,  every 
fresh  trouble  that  arises,  especially  in  the  cutlery 
trades,  is  regarded  as  offering  a  further  incentive 
to  the  invention  or  the  adoption  of  machines 
which  can  be  worked  by  more  or  less  unskilled 
labour.  Much  has  been  done  in  this  direction 
already.  Thus,  to  forge  a  gross  of  pen-knife 


CAN  THE  TRADES  BE   PRESERVED?    143 

springs  by  hand  is  a  fair  day's  work  for  a 
competent  man;  but  there  is  a  machine  which 
will  turn  out  the  gross  in  from  ten  to  fifteen 
minutes,  and  the  machine-made  springs  will  be 
more  evenly  cut  than  those  made  by  hand. 

Other  machines  akin  to  this  are  likely  to  be 
introduced  in  the  not  far  distant  future.  There 
are  Sheffield  men  possessed  of  clear  brains,  in- 
ventive genius,  and  a  determined  will,  who  will 
not  consent  to  seeing  their  industries  brought 
to  ruin  without  making  a  determined  effort  to 
preserve  them,  and  machines  are  being  projected 
to  do  things  for  the  Sheffield  trades  which  will 
considerably  open  the  eyes  of  the  old-fashioned 
workers,  who  may  think  their  own  services 
cannot  be  dispensed  with.  It  is  quite  under- 
stood at  Sheffield  that  everything  new  must  be 
fought  for  with  the  unions  ;  but,  though  not 
wanting  to  provoke  a  revolution,  the  employers 
in  question  will  not  be  afraid  of  taking  practical 
steps,  with  a  zeal  tempered  by  discretion,  to 
preserve  the  best  interests  of  their  trade. 

But  the  introduction  of  new  processes  would 
not  necessarily  prejudice  the  interests  of  the  men. 
The  machinery  would  want  working  under  the 
best  conditions,  and  though  unskilled  labour 
might  suffice,  it  would  certainly  be  found  pre- 
ferable to  keep  on,  if  possible,  the  men  who 


144  SHEFFIELD  TRADES 

had  done  the  same  work  before  by  hand. 
Individually,  therefore,  the  men  would  have 
little  to  fear  if  they  were  only  reasonable,  while 
collectively  they  could  look  forward  to  a  con- 
siderable increase  in  the  amount  of  work  to  be 
done.  Manufacturers  who  ought  to  know  declare 
that  there  is  no  limit  to  the  possible  and  the 
probable  demand  for  Sheffield  goods,  if  only 
they  can  be  produced  at  a  lower  cost  and 
in  larger  quantities.  American  and  German 
goods  may  now  hold  the  markets  where  a  low 
price  is  the  chief  consideration ;  but  in  regard 
to  quality  there  is  a  good-will  in  the  name  of 
"  Sheffield  "  manufactures  which  still  commands 
respect  for  them  all  the  world  over,  and,  pro- 
vided that  they  can  be  sold  at  a  price  not  so 
very  much  higher  than  the  goods  of  our  foreign 
competitors — even  if  not  actually  at  the  same 
price — and,  also,  that  they  can  be  produced 
promptly,  according  to  the  requirements  of  the 
market,  there  would  even  yet  be  time  to  endow 
those  manufactures  with  fresh  life  and  increased 
prosperity. 

It  would  be  an  excellent  thing  if  the  trade 
unions  concerned  could  be  induced  to  look  at 
the  matter  from  this  point  of  view.  There  is 
no  lack  among  the  trade  unionists  of  Sheffield 
of  shrewd,  intelligent,  and  level-headed  men  who 


HOW  THE   UNIONS   ARE   LED  145 

must  see  how  inimical  the  policy  pursued  in 
their  name  must  be  to  the  best  interests  of  the 
industries  on  which  they  depend  for  their  bread. 
But  the  tendency  in  Sheffield,  as  in  other  in- 
dustrial centres,  is  for  the  meetings  of  the  local 
labour  unions,  held  in  some  public-house  or  other, 
to  be  attended  mainly  by  the  members  who  are 
often  unemployed  and  in  want  of  out-of-work 
benefit.  These  are  the  men  who  have  most  to 
gain  from  being  friendly  with  the  secretary,  and 
the  position  of  that  official  is  thus  rendered  al- 
most supreme.  Individuals  of  the  type  referred 
to  constitute  the  less  intelligent  of  the  workers, 
but  it  is  they  who  chiefly  dictate  the  policy  of 
the  unions,  and  especially  that  phase  of  it  which 
limits  the  number  of  hands,  so  that  masters  may 
be  compelled  to  take  on  even  the  ne'er-do-wells. 
One  can,  therefore,  well  understand  the  senti- 
ments of  a  Sheffield  employer  who  exclaimed, 
"  If  we  are  to  have  trade  unions,  then  let  the 
more  intelligent  men  in  the  trade  take  a  more 
active  part  in  their  management." 

So  it  is  hoped  that  the  attempt  to  improve 
Sheffield  industries  by  a  resort  to  better  methods 
of  production  will  be  accompanied  by  efforts  to 
stimulate  the  zeal  of  the  workmen,  and  to  win 
them  over  to  a  keener  sympathy  and  a  greater 
community  of  interest  with  their  employers. 

10 


146  SHEFFIELD  TRADES 

If  this  could  only  be  done  there  should  be  a 
better  chance  of  promoting  the  interests  of  each 
by  clearing  away  from  the  industries  the  re- 
strictions by  which  they  are  now  hampered.  It 
may  be  suggested,  too,  that  the  employers  should 
combine  in  some  way  so  as  to  afford  to  the 
youths  of  the  town  an  opportunity  of  becoming 
really  qualified  to  enter  the  different  industries. 
The  literary  education  of  the  Board  schools,  and 
the  theoretical  teaching  of  evening  classes,  might 
be  supplemented  by  a  practical  training  given 
by  the  foremen  and  managers  of  the  different 
employers,  who  should  throw  open  the  doors  of 
their  factories  for  the  purpose,  and  pay  such 
teachers  out  of  a  common  fund  for  their  services. 
A  scheme  on  some  such  basis  as  this  would 
meet  the  breakdown  of  the  apprenticeship  sys- 
tem, and  ensure  an  adequate  supply  of  workers, 
without  necessarily  flooding  the  labour  market. 
It  would  certainly  be  opposed  by  the  trade  union 
leaders,  but  that  is  hardly  a  sufficient  reason  for 
not  making  the  attempt.  There  is  in  Sheffield, 
as  elsewhere,  an  ample  supply  of  "  free  "  labour, 
mainly  unskilled,  from  which  lads  to  be  trained 
for  skilled  and  highly  paid  trades  could  easily 
be  obtained  if  the  door  were  only  thrown  open 
to  them ;  and  the  question  is,  whether,  by 
availing  themselves  of  these  opportunities,  the 


THE   SUPPLY  OF  WORKERS  147 

employers  could  not  find  means  both  to  give 
greater  vitality  to  their  industries  and  to  pro- 
vide remunerative  employment — in  face  of  the 
improved  markets  which  would  then  be  so 
secured — to  many  a  youth  or  man  who  would 
be  glad  enough  to  have  it. 


THE   PRINTING   TRADES 

How  the  principle  of  restricting  the  output  is 
affecting  the  printing  trades,  among  others,  is 
shown  by  the  somewhat  curious  experience  of 
the  head  of  one  of  the  largest  printing  firms  in 
London.  He  finds  that  his  foremen,  though  men 
of  undoubted  experience,  are  invariably  wrong 
in  their  calculations  as  to  the  length  of  time 
that  will  be  required  to  turn  out  a  particular 
piece  of  work,  and  that  it  is  always  necessary  to 
increase  their  estimate  by  from  5  to  15  per  cent. 
The  reason  is  that  the  foremen  calculate  accord- 
ing to  the  rate  at  which  men  in  the  trade  would 
work  when  they  themselves  served  in  the  rank 
and  file.  In  the  printing  trade,  also,  as  in  certain 
others,  those  who  do  happen  to  work  too  hard 
may  become  marked  men.  There  are  always 
from  700  to  1,100  compositors  out  of  work  in 
London,  and  the  worker  on  "  'stab  "  wages  who 
shows  too  much  zeal  in  the  interests  of  his 
employers  is  regarded  by  the  more  ignorant 
of  the  outsiders  as  one  who  keeps  bread  from 

148 


LONDON  DISTRACTIONS  149 

their  mouths.  Thus  it  has  happened  that  such 
a  person,  reported  on  by  an  "  apostle,"  has  been 
hissed  by  the  unemployed  as  he  passed  to  and 
from  his  work,  his  duty,  from  their  point  of  view, 
being  not  to  over-exert  himself,  so  that  his 
employers  will  have  to  call  in  more  hands. 

It  would  not,  however,  be  fair  to  suggest  that 
the  reduction  of  output  in  printing  offices   is 
entirely  due  to  a  deliberate  adoption,  from  what- 
ever motive,  of  "  ca'  canny  "  principles.     In  the 
Metropolis  it  is  regarded  by  employers  as  due 
in  no  small  degree  to  the  distractions  of  London 
life.     Men  who  devote  all  their  leisure  to  sports, 
social  clubs,  amusements,  musical  societies,  and 
so  on,  as  many  printers  are  found  to  do,  cannot 
be  expected  to  bring  their  full  energy  to  bear 
on  their  work  when  they  start  in  the  morning, 
and  it  is  feared  that  even  when  such  men  are  at 
work  they  are  thinking  less  of  what  is  before 
them  than  of  what  they  propose  to  do  in  the 
evening.      London  distractions   are,  indeed,  re- 
garded as   one   of  the   most   active   sources   of 
injury  to  the  London  printing  trade.    Then,  too, 
the   decreased  amount  of  work  done  per  man, 
as   compared  with   twenty  years  ago,  has  been 
accompanied  in  London  by  rises  in  the  rates  of 
pay  to  such  an  extent  as  seriously  to  interfere 
with  certain  branches  of  the  trade,  these  increases 


150  THE   PRINTING   TRADES 

being  mainly  due  to  trade  union  action.  The 
advance,  granted  in  July,  1901,  practically  settled 
the  fate  of  the  book  trade,  so  far  as  London 
printers  were  concerned.  Much  of  this  class  of 
work  has  gone  to  Edinburgh  or  to  the  provinces, 
where  rates  are  substantially  lower,  but  much 
also  has  gone  to  Holland  and  Germany.  Dutch 
printing  firms,  especially,  have  been  keen  on 
getting  work  from  London.  They  have  their 
own  agents  here,  they  now  use  English-made 
type,  they  engage  English  "  readers,"  they  employ 
compositors  whose  wages  are  only  half  what  the 
London  compositors  receive,  they  make  use  of 
composing  machines  bought  in  this  country,  they 
deliver  books  or  other  printed  matter  in  London 
at  a  reduction  of  30  per  cent,  on  London  charges, 
and  in  this  way  are  securing  a  good  deal  of  the 
work  that  was  formerly  done  in  London.  The 
flow  of  printing  orders  to  either  Holland  or 
Germany  is,  in  fact,  steadily  increasing,  and  with 
each  further  increase  of  wages  here  that  flow 
is  doubly  accelerated — that  is  to  say,  not  only 
because  of  the  increased  cost  of  production,  but 
also  because  on  each  occasion  people  learn  how 
much  cheaper  they  can  get  their  printing  done 
abroad  than  at  home. 

In  the  opinion  of  one  authority  who  has  a  very 
wide  acquaintance  with  the  printing  trade  in  all 


HANDICAPPING   AMERICAN   PRESSES     151 

its  branches,  the  tendency  of  the  men  engaged 
therein  to  "go  easy  "  in  regard  to  the  use  of 
improved  machinery,  by  never  working  it  to  the 
top  of  its  capacity,  is  so  widespread  as  to  be 
almost  universal.  He  finds  that  the  tendency 
shows  itself  more  especially  in  regard  to  the  fast 
two-revolution  flat-bed  presses  recently  intro- 
duced from  the  United  States,  and  to  the  use 
made  of  composing  machines. 

The  two-revolution  presses  referred  to  are  em- 
ployed for  all  kinds  of  jobs,  and  especially  for 
the  production  of  illustrated  magazines  and  for 
half-tone  and  three-colour  printing.  They  re- 
present probably  the  highest  class  of  mechanical 
engineering  as  applied  to  the  printing  trade,  the 
absolute  precision  necessary  for  the  three-colour 
printing  requiring  almost  mathematical  perfection 
in  the  fitting  of  the  different  parts,  which  have 
thus  to  be  put  together  with  the  same  degree 
of  care  as  would  be  required  in  the  making  of 
a  watch.  Thus  the  machines  cost  considerably 
more  than  English  Wharfedales,  and  the  only 
justification  for  their  purchase  lies  in  their  turn- 
ing out  a  superior  quality  of  work  and  in  their 
assuring  a  greater  speed  in  production.  This 
greater  speed  should  be  obtained  by  the  reduc- 
tion to  a  minimum  of  the  time  occupied  in  get- 
ting the  press  ready  to  run  off  copies  from  any 


152  THE   PRINTING   TRADES 

given  forme,  and  in  the  actual  rate  at  which  the 
copies  are  turned  out.  It  is  claimed  that,  in 
the  case  of  the  former,  the  reduction  should  be 
from  four  hours  to  two  hours,  and  in  the  latter, 
an  increase  from  1,000  to  1,600,  1,800,  or  even 
2,000  per  hour.  But  the  complaint  is  made  that 
the  employer  is  deprived  of  the  economic  ad- 
vantages of  the  machines  because  the  men  work- 
ing them,  in  the  first  place,  spend  as  long  a  time 
as  before  in  getting  the  presses  ready,  and,  in 
the  next  place,  refuse  to  feed  them  or  run  them 
otherwise  than  at  a  rate  which  shows  but  a  slight 
advantage  over  machinery  constructed  according 
to  the  old  designs,  the  actual  output  being,  in 
fact,  kept  to  between  1,000  and  1,500  copies  per 
hour.  A  curious  illustration  of  these  restrictive 
methods  of  working  is  afforded  by  the  fact  that 
some  of  the  fast  American  presses  introduced 
into  this  country  have  actually  been  thrown  out 
of  order  because  of  the  unwillingness  of  the  men 
to  work  them  at  the  rate  for  which  they  are 
designed.  There  can,  however,  hardly  be  any 
patriotic  prejudice  against  these  "  American " 
machines  as  such,  because,  though  designed 
in  the  United  States,  they  are  now  built  in 
England,  from  English  materials,  by  English 
workmen,  and  these  English-made  machines 
are  declared  to  be  better  made  and  capable 


COMPOSING   MACHINES  153 

of  quicker   running   than  those  constructed   in 
America.      Obviously  the   real   motive   of  the 
printers  is  to  "leave  work  for  some  one  else." 
In    the    case    of    composing    machines    the 
hostility,  direct  or  indirect,  is  still  more  severe. 
What  an  Englishman  can  do  with  a  composing 
machine  when  he  has  a  fair  chance,  and  does 
not   have  the   vision   of  a  trade   union  official 
before  his  eyes,  was  shown  at  the  recent  Paris 
Exhibition,   where   the   skill   displayed    by   the 
English   operators  on  one  well-known  class  of 
machine  excited  the  wonder  even  of  American 
printers  visiting  the  exhibition,  some  of  them 
declaring  that  there  was  nothing  equal  to  it  in 
the  United  States,  and  offering  the  men   per- 
manent positions  if  they  would  go  there.     But 
the  machine  operator  in  an  English  office  where 
"society"  influences  prevail  is  a  very  different 
person.     Both  in  London  and  in  the  provinces 
the   policy  of  the  "society"  is  to  restrict   the 
output  from  the  machine,  in  order  that  it  may 
not   compare   too   favourably  with   hand  work, 
and   that  the   employer  may  be   compelled   to 
engage  more  men.     There   was   a   competition 
not  long  ago  carried  on  in  London,  Glasgow, 
and    Manchester    to   show   what   results   really 
could    be    produced   from   the   machine,   prizes 
being  offered  to  the  best  workers.     The  London 


154  THE   PRINTING  TRADES 

Society  of  Compositors  issued  special  notices 
to  its  members  forbidding  them  to  take  part 
in  the  competition  in  London,  and  the  other 
societies  in  the  provinces  advised  their  members 
not  to  enter.  The  competitions  were  thus  left 
entirely  in  the  hands  of  non-society  men,  who 
gave  a  good  account  of  themselves,  the  best 
results  being  obtained  by  a  newspaper  hand 
who  produced  34,432  ens  corrected  matter  in 
two  hours,  or  17,216  per  hour.  The  second  on 
the  list  did  33,536  ens  in  the  two  hours.  These 
figures  show  what  can  be  done  when  men  try ; 
but,  as  a  rule,  every  possible  obstacle  has  been 
placed  in  the  way  of  composing  machines  of 
all  kinds  since  their  introduction.  Thus  a  skilled 
operator,  working,  under  favourable  conditions, 
one  of  the  machines  in  respect  to  which  the 
competition  referred  to  above  took  place,  should 
be  able  to  produce  10,000  ens  an  hour  without 
going  at  a  competition  pace.  The  output  of 
the  average  operator,  working  under  ordinary 
conditions,  is  from  5,000  to  7,000  per  hour. 

These  figures  will  serve  as  an  introduction  to 
the  story  that  in  one  office  the  firm,  in  the 
interests  of  their  men,  offered  to  give  them 
higher  rates  of  pay  according  to  the  work  they 
turned  out  by  the  machines  above  4,000  ens 
per  hour.  But  "  society  "  influence  was  brought 


CHECKS  ON  UNDUE  ENERGY     155 

to  bear  on  the  firm,  who  had  to  withdraw  their 
offer,  to  the  detriment  of  the  men.  Any  such 
stimulus  to  increased  energy  seems,  indeed,  to 
be  effectually  checked  by  the  following  rule  of 
the  Typographical  Association : 

No  member  shall  accept  work  on  composing  machines 
on  terms  under  which  he  is  called  upon  to  produce  a  fixed 
amount  of  composition,  or  on  a  system  of  payment  (except 
piecework  purely  and  simple)  which  offers  inducements  to 
racing  or  undue  competition  between  machine  operators. 

Then  there  was  an  attempt  made  to  prevent 
the  same  firm  from  checking  the  amount  of 
work  done,  so  that  the  operators  would  not  be 
detected  if  they  decreased  their  output,  and 
the  work  at  once  fell  off  by  1,000  ens  per  man 
per  hour  until  the  services  of  some  of  the  opera- 
tors were  dispensed  with,  when  the  rate  im- 
mediately rose  higher  than  it  had  been  before. 
In  another  house  where  similar  tactics  were 
resorted  to  the  firm  gave  a  fortnight's  notice 
to  the  whole  of  their  operators,  reducing  them 
to  reason  at  once.  Yet  the  men  might  evi- 
dently have  pleaded,  as  an  excuse,  the  following 
further  rule  of  the  Typographical  Association  : 

No  machine  operator  working  on  'stab  shall  mark  his 
copy  or  be  called  upon  to  assist  in  any  method  which 
may  be  suggested  for  the  purpose  of  testing  the  amount 


156  THE   PRINTING  TRADES 

of  his  composition.  This  clause  not  to  interfere  with  the 
right  of  the  employer  to  ascertain  the  output  by  legitimate 
means  for  charging  or  estimating  purposes. 

Another  phase  of  the  restrictive  tactics  in 
regard  to  machine  composition  has  been  the 
charging  of  "  extras "  on  every  possible  occa- 
sion, so  as,  apparently,  to  send  up  the  cost. 
Even  a  single  accented  letter  is  to  count  as  a 
line.  This  action,  however,  has  been  directly 
to  the  prejudice  of  the  society  members,  inas- 
much as  piecework  is  gradually  being  discarded 
in  favour  of  'stab,  or  fixed  wages.  Where  men 
could  legitimately  earn  from  £3  to  £4  per  week, 
even  without  "  extras,"  they  now  get  £2  5s. 
per  week. 

It  is  true  that  in  the  first  instance  the  in- 
troduction of  labour-saving  machinery  into  the 
printing  trade  caused  a  temporary  displacement 
of  labour,  and  it  is  an  especially  noteworthy 
fact  that  the  normal  number  of  compositors 
out  of  work  in  London  would  not  be  so  great 
if  the  men  had  taken  more  kindly  to  composing 
machines,  instead  of  showing  a  hostile  attitude, 
and  leaving  so  wide  a  door  open  for  individuals 
of  all  classes,  previously  unfamiliar  with  printing, 
to  acquire  the  art  of  working  the  machines  and 
becoming  operators.  Hand  compositors  would 
certainly  have  made  more  desirable  machine 


MACHINERY   INCREASES  EMPLOYMENT     157 

operators  than  the  men  from  outside ;  but  as 
it  is,  they  have  only  themselves  to  blame  if 
others  readily  embrace  opportunities  which  they 
themselves  have  neglected.  While,  too,  the 
composing  machines  certainly  displaced  labour 
for  a  time,  they  have  ended  by  greatly  increas- 
ing the  demand  for  labour.  The  appearance  of 
eight-page  halfpenny  morning  papers,  which,  in 
various  ways,  have  given  employment  to  so  large 
a  number  of  people,  and,  also,  the  increased  size 
of  certain  penny  morning  newspapers,  have  been 
rendered  practicable  only  through  the  decreased 
cost  of  production  due  to  machine  composition, 
so  that,  for  the  comparatively  small  number  of 
men  displaced  at  first,  a  large  number  have  now 
been  taken  on,  while  it  was  always  open  to  those 
who  were  displaced  to  acquire  the  new  methods 
if  they  thought  fit. 

Some  observations  on  the  general  position  of 
the  printing  trades,  made  by  the  authority  re- 
ferred to  above,  will  doubtless  be  read  with 
interest : 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  most  serious  cause  of 
new  methods  and  new  machinery  not  being  rapidly 
adopted  is  to  be  found  in  the  general  absence  of  accurate 
technical  knowledge,  both  of  the  machinery  itself  and  in 
the  management  of  the  men,  on  the  part  of  the  responsible 
chiefs  of  the  majority  of  big  printing  houses.  These,  as 
a  rule,  rely  almost  entirely  upon  their  overseers  for  the 


158  THE   PRINTING  TRADES 

management  of  the  men,  and  on  their  managers  for  the 
technical  verdicts  on  any  mechanical  improvements.  The 
chiefs  of  the  houses  confine  themselves  almost  entirely  to 
the  general  policy  and  management  of  their  businesses, 
and  yet  it  is  upon  an  accurate  knowledge  of  what 
machinery  should  do,  and  upon  tact  and  skill  in  getting 
these  results  out  of  the  men,  that  the  commercial  success 
of  large  printing-houses  must,  in  the  future,  depend. 
Already  an  enormous  amount  of  London  printing  has 
been  taken  away  by  Dutch  and  Belgian  firms,  who  do 
their  composition  by  machines,  and  work  long  hours  and 
faster  presses  than  are  used  in  England,  and  at  less  wages. 
It  would,  nevertheless,  not  be  difficult  to  prove  that,  if 
the  master-printers  to-day  were  to  use  nothing  but  the 
very  best  and  fastest  machinery,  and  were  to  insist  upon 
the  machinery  being  worked  to  its  utmost  capacity,  they 
could  compete  economically  with  any  foreign  or  u  out-of- 
London  "  firm.  It  is  exceedingly  likely  that,  to  do  this, 
they  would  have  to  improve  the  position  of  their  workmen 
by  being  willing  to  give  better  wages,  but  they  could 
afford  to  do  so,  because  the  new  machinery  purchased 
would  mean  less  labour  than  the  old,  and,  producing  more 
copies  per  hour,  it  would  lower  the  wage  cost  per  copy  out 
of  all  proportion  to  the  increased  cost  of  the  installation. 

With  special  reference  to  the  influences  of  trade  unionism 
on  the  printing  trade,  two  points  should  be  borne  in 
mind: 

(1)  It  will  hardly  be  believed  by  those  outside  the  trade 
itself  that  the  overseers,  to  whom  practically  the  entire 
mechanical  administration  of  these  important  businesses 
is  entrusted,  are  men  who  have  grown  grey  in  the  service 
of  trade  unionism.  Should  friction  arise  between  the 
employers  and  the  men,  the  man  who  should  look  after 
the  employees  interests  is  one  who  is  absolutely  dependent 
for  his  future  on  remaining  on  the  best  of  terms  with 


REFLECTIONS   OF  AN   EXPERT          159 

those  with  whom  he  is  engaged  in  the  struggle.  Should 
his  opposition  to  trade  union  contentions  involve  any 
infringement  of  any  of  the  innumerable  trade  union 
regulations,  the  contributions  of  a  lifetime  to  the  union 
funds  are  sacrificed.  It  must  seem  hardly  credible  to 
those  outside  the  trade  that  this  should  be  the  actual 
state  of  affairs,  but  it  is  as  I  have  stated,  and  it  is  little 
wonder  that  employers  get  bad  terms  from  unions  when 
those  in  whose  hands  their  interests  lie  practically  in  their 
entirety  are  men  whose  future  condition  in  life  depends 
upon  their  not  exasperating  those  under  'them. 

(2)  While  many  printing  offices  have  started  as  what 
are  known  in  the  trade  as  "  open  houses  " — that  is,  those 
into  which  both  unionists  and  non-unionists  can  be  taken — 
yet,  as  a  matter  of  experience,  few  of  the  houses  thus 
nominally  "  open "  are  otherwise  than  entirely  under  the- 
control  of  the  various  unions,  and  for  this  reason :  In 
every  such  office  the  unionists  form  a  strong  and  solid 
body,  and  the  representatives  of  the  union  bring  special 
pressure  to  bear  upon  all  those  outside  the  society  to  join, 
so  that  ultimately  the  unionist  nucleus  becomes  strong 
enough  to  exclude  non-society  men.  This  exclusion  is 
not  brought  about  by  the  overseer  or  "clicker,"  though 
he  is  generally  a  unionist  himself,  but  is  effectually  secured 
by  unofficial  representatives.  The  consequence  is  that, 
should  friction  arise  between  masters  and  men,  and  the 
men  leave,  they^do  so  in  a  body,  and,  by  picketing  the 
house,  they  form  a  solid  defence  against  any  non-unionists 
being  imported  from  a  distance.  The  solution  of  these 
difficulties  lies,  and  can  only  lie,  either  in  overseers  and 
managers  being  non-unionists,  or  in  the  managers  and 
chiefs  of  the  firm  being  themselves  masters  of  every  detail, 
while  no  printing  house  should  allow  itself  to  be  labelled 
exclusively  "  society  house,"  thereby  losing  all  chance  of 
saving  its  trade  interests  were  a  strike  threatened. 


160  THE   PRINTING  TRADES 

The  lithographic  colour  printing  trade  appears 
to  be  one  of  the  few  in  the  country  which  have 
come  to  recognise  the  dangerous  tendencies  of 
the  "  go  easy "  policy.  Ten  years  ago  the 
members  of  this  trade  in  London  were  under 
the  rule  of  the  London  Society  of  Lithographic 
Printers,  and,  whether  tacitly  sanctioned  by  this 
society  or  not,  the  policy  of  restricting  the  out- 
put prevailed  to  such  an  extent  that  in  some 
shops  it  was  impossible  to  get  a  man  to  turn 
out  more  than  four  or  five  reams  a  day.  There 
was  no  stated  rule  that  no  more  should  be  done, 
but  there  was  an  unwritten  law,  and  the  man 
who  did  more  had  a  very  rough  time  of  it  among 
his  shopmates,  and  soon  found  it  expedient  to 
do  as  they  were  doing.  The  natural  result  was 
that  the  cost  of  production  grew  excessive,  and 
a  good  deal  of  the  trade  went  either  to  the 
country,  where  it  cost  7-J  per  cent,  less,  or  to 
Germany  (the  "  home  "  of  colour  printing),  where 
it  was  done  for  20  per  cent,  less  than  in  London. 
Then  another  society,  the  "Amalgamated," 
consisting  mostly  of  younger  men  with  broader 
ideas,  was  introduced  into  London  from  the 
provinces  and  gained  considerable  support,  one 
excellent  thing  in  its  favour  being  that  it  would 
not  tolerate  the  former  restrictive  practices. 
This  wiser  policy,  coupled  with  the  fact  that 


WISER  TACTICS  161 

the  men  became  alive  to  the  mischief  which  had 
already  been  done,  has  led  to  a  greater  dis- 
position on  their  part  to  do  their  best.  The 
average  being  taken  of  London  houses  all  round, 
it  is  calculated  that  the  men  now  turn  out  17 J 
per  cent,  more  than  was  the  case  ten  years  ago. 
The  effect  of  this  improvement  has  been  to 
check  somewhat  the  sending  of  work  to  Germany, 
and  it  is  even  hoped  that  some  of  the  trade 
already  lost  will  eventually  be  regained. 


11 


THE   FURNITURE   TRADES 

THE  very  considerable  expansions  which  have 
been  brought  about  in  the  English  furniture 
trades  during  the  past  few  years  may  be  specially 
commended  to  the  consideration  of  those  work- 
men who  are  disposed  to  regard  labour-saving 
machinery  as  necessarily  inimical  to  their  own 
interests. 

Not  more  than  fifteen  years  ago  London  was 
the  "  seat "  of  the  English  furniture  trade,  and 
a  very  large  proportion  of  this  furniture  was 
then  made  by  people  known  as  "  garret  masters," 
who  carried  on  the  work  in  their  own  dwellings 
in  the  slums  of  Finsbury,  Shoreditch,  Bethnal 
Green,  or  elsewhere.  Aided  by  their  wives  and 
by  those  of  their  sons  who  were  capable  of 
handling  a  tool,  these  garret  masters  would  toil 
hard  during  the  week,  working  in  the  most 
unhealthy  conditions,  and  on  the  Saturday  they 
would  put  on  a  barrow  or  a  handcart  the 
furniture  they  had  made  and  take  it  to  the 
wholesale  dealers,  to  whom  they  would  dispose 

162 


FURNITURE-MAKING  BY  MACHINERY    163 

of  it  for  the  best  terms  they  could  get.  In  the 
Curtain  Road,  in  those  days,  it  was  possible  on 
a  Saturday  afternoon  to  see  a  hundred  or  so  of 
these  garret  masters,  with  their  barrows,  all 
eagerly  looking  forward  to  receiving  the  money 
which  would  represent  not  only  the  funds  to 
replenish  the  domestic  exchequer,  but  the  fresh 
capital  with  which  the  raw  materials  for  the 
next  week's  operations  could  be  purchased. 
Then  came  the  advent  of  the  machinery  era, 
which  has  led  to  the  practical  extinction  of  the 
garret  master,  and  to  the  reorganisation  of  the 
industry  on  its  present  expanded  basis. 

In  the  first  instance,  most  of  the  machinery 
used  here  for  cabinet-making  came  from  the 
United  States  ;  though  of  late  years  the  British 
engineers  have  taken  up  the  matter  with  an 
enterprise  and  an  inventive  skill  that  have  en- 
abled them  to  turn  out  machines  equal  to  the 
best  of  those  from  America  or  Germany.  But, 
whatever  may  be  the  particular  country  in  which 
the  machines  are  constructed,  the  broad  fact 
remains  that  two-thirds  of  the  furniture  now 
made  in  Great  Britain  is  made  by  machinery. 
Not  only  do  the  machines  produce  sections  or 
parts  of  furniture  by  the  hundred  or  the  thousand 
in  a  marvellously  short  space  of  time ;  there  is 
the  further  consideration  that  the  machines  do 


164  THE   FURNITURE    TRADES 

work  of  a  kind  that  seems  almost  incredible. 
There  is,  for  instance,  an  automatic  carving 
machine  which  is  a  perfect  marvel  of  ingenuity. 
A  workman  puts  a  piece  of  timber  into  the 
machine,  which  he  locks  up,  sets  going,  and 
then  leaves  to  itself.  Half  an  hour  later  he 
returns,  finds  that  the  machine  has  stopped  of 
its  own  accord,  reopens  it,  and  takes  out  the 
piece  of  timber,  converted  into  an  elaborately 
carved  panel.  This,  when  it  has  been  finished 
off,  could  not  be  distinguished  from  a  similar 
panel  which  an  ordinary  woodcarver  might  take 
a  week  to  produce  by  hand.  There  is  another 
machine  which,  worked  by  a  boy,  will  carve 
four  panels  at  a  time,  the  cutting  tools  being 
guided  by  a  metal  pattern,  and  each  acting 
simultaneously  on  a  piece  of  timber  placed  on 
a  separate  shelf  in  the  machine.  Thanks  to 
such  devices  as  these,  cheap  bedroom  suites,  for 
instance,  can  now  be  provided  with  an  amount 
of  ornamentation  which  would  otherwise  be 
impossible  at  the  price.  In  the  same  way  the 
effect  of  the  use  of  machinery  has  been  both  to 
cheapen  greatly  the  cost  of  production  and 
greatly  to  increase  the  demand  for  furniture  at 
the  substantially  lower  prices  for  which  it  can 
now  be  obtained. 

So  it  is  that  the  small   makers,  turning  out 


MORE   MACHINERY:   MORE   MEN        165 

a  few  articles  per  week  in  their  own  homes, 
with  the  help  of  their  wives  and  children,  have 
given  place  to  large  factories,  where  goods  are 
produced  in  great  quantities  by  means  of  every 
mechanical  device  that  human  ingenuity  has 
yet  invented  for  the  making  of  furniture, 
London,  too,  can  no  longer  be  regarded  as  the 
seat  of  the  industry,  for  the  great  factories 
which  have  sprung  up  in  Liverpool,  Manchester, 
Leeds,  Birmingham,  and  elsewhere  have  rendered 
each  of  these  towns  a  furniture-making  centre 
for  its  immediate  district.  Then,  too — and  this 
is  the  point  on  which  special  stress  may  be 
laid — instead  of  the  demand  for  labour  having 
suffered  as  the  result  of  this  extensive  resort  to 
labour-saving  machines,  the  expansion  of  the 
industry  is  such  that  the  workers  are  now  25 
per  cent,  more  in  number  than  they  were  before 
the  machinery  era  set  in.  It  is  true  that  this 
era  has  led  to  the  introduction  of  a  considerable 
element  of  foreign  workers  ;  but,  in  the  opinion 
of  one  very  competent  authority  on  the  subject, 
there  was  plenty  of  work  for  the  British  and 
the  foreigners  alike  until  the  war  in  South 
Africa  closed,  for  a  time,  one  of  the  very  best 
markets  of  the  English  furniture  exporter— 
that  of  the  Cape.  As  for  the  garret  masters, 
most  of  them  have  taken  employment  in  the 


166  THE   FURNITURE  TRADES 

large  factories,  where  they  can  earn  a  regular 
wage ;  and  they  have  been  able  to  leave  the 
slums  of  London  for  such  suburban  districts  as 
Walthamstow,  coming  to  their  work  by  train, 
and  returning  in  the  evening  to  their  homes, 
which  are  now  no  longer  merely  workshops  in 
disguise. 


THE  GOLD-BEATING  INDUSTRY  AND 
GERMAN  COMPETITION 

THE  incursions  which  German  competition  has 
made  into  the  British  gold-beating  industry  have 
played  serious  havoc  with  one  of  the  oldest 
and  most  interesting  of  our  handicrafts.  The 
demand  for  those  wonderful  "  leaves  "  of  beaten 
gold,  which  are  so  thin  that  from  280,000  to 
300,000  of  them  would  be  required  to  make  the 
thickness  of  one  inch,  has  greatly  increased  of 
late  years  in  respect  to  their  use  for  decorative 
gilding,  picture  frames,  signs,  facias,  the  orna- 
mentation of  furniture,  the  lettering  on  books, 
and  so  on  ;  yet  not  only  has  the  greater  part 
of  the  increased  trade  fallen  into  the  hands  of 
the  Germans,  but  they  have  managed  to  capture 
also  the  greater  part  of  the  trade  formerly  done 
by  the  English  makers. 

In  this  instance,  however,  there  is  no  question 
of  trade  union  restriction  or  interference.  The 
fault,  if  any,  must  be  laid  at  the  door  of 
the  British  public  rather  than  at  that  of  the 

167 


168         THE   GOLD-BEATING   INDUSTRY 

operatives.  It  is  true  that  the  men,  following 
the  example  of  those  engaged  in  so  many  other 
trades,  do  not  work  so  hard  as  they  or  their 
predecessors  used  to  do.  It  is  said  of  them  by 
those  of  long  experience  in  the  gold-beating 
trade  that  the  spread  in  the  workshops  of  what 
may  be  called  the  conversation  habit  has  led 
to  a  decreased  speed  in  working,  as  compared 
with  that  which  was  in  vogue  thirty  years 
ago,  so  that  a  man  who  still  works  with  old- 
fashioned  energy  is  rare.  The  output  of  the 
average  individual  worker  to-day  is  said  to  be 
about  25  per  cent,  less  than  it  was  three  decades 
ago;  but  as  the  men  work  piece  the  loss  is  on 
their  side  and  not  on  that  of  the  employer. 
The  decreased  energy  is  the  more  striking  be- 
cause there  has  been  a  falling-off  in  the  rate  of 
wages,  and  one  might  suppose  that  the  men 
would  be  likely  to  work  even  harder  in  order 
to  make  up  the  difference.  Still,  in  the  gold- 
beating  trade  there  is  ;no  suggestion  whatever 
that  the  lessened  prosperity  is  due  to  the  work- 
people. For  the  chief  causes  of  the  decline 
one  must  look  rather  to  the  conditions  under 
which  the  trade  is  carried  on  in  Germany. 

Most  of  the  competition  experienced  by  the 
English  producers  of  gold-leaf  comes  from  a 
type  of  German  maker  not  to  be  found  in  this 


SMALL  MASTERS  IN   GERMANY         169 

country.  In  the  districts  where  the  handicraft  is 
chiefly  carried  on  in  Germany  men  who  are  them- 
selves little  superior  to  the  ordinary  workmen 
are  financed  by  so-called  "  bankers "  (belonging 
to  the  class  known  here  as  money-lenders), 
and  start  in  the  gold-beating  industry  on  their 
own  account.  Such  individuals  will  take  into 
their  service  from  twenty  to  thirty  persons,  and 
carry  on  what  an  Englishman  would  consider 
a  fairly  extensive  business  ;  but  they  will  be 
content  with  a  financial  return  that  no  employer 
of  labour  in  this  country  would  regard  as  ade- 
quate. Thus  it  may  happen  that  a  manufacturer 
of  this  class,  employing  thirty  hands,  will  con- 
sider himself  passing  rich  on  an  income  of  £3 
a  week,  and  will  be  quite  content  to  live  in  a 
house  only  a  little  better  than  that  of  an  ordinary 
skilled  workman.  There  are,  it  is  true,  other 
manufacturers  in  Germany  with  much  larger 
concerns,  and  making  much  larger  profits ;  but 
it  is  these  smaller  masters  who  supply  most 
of  the  gold-leaf  that  competes  with  the  English- 
made  article. 

Then  there  is  the  fact  that  the  German 
makers  use  much  more  alloy  with  their  gold 
than  is  the  case  with  makers  here,  while  they 
also  adopt  methods  which  (combined  with  the 
greater  comparative  speed  at  which  their  work- 


170        THE   GOLD-BEATING   INDUSTRY 

people  labour)  enable  them  to  produce  more 
leaf  in  a  given  time,  and  at  a  less  cost,  though 
at  the  sacrifice  of  quality.  Thus  the  German 
maker  will  offer  for  356*.  what  the  English 
maker  wants  45s.  for ;  but  the  difference  in 
quality  is  such  that  the  German  gold-leaf, 
though  suitable  enough  for  the  lettering  on 
books  and  other  such  purposes,  is  declared  to 
be  quite  unsuitable  for  use  in  large  surfaces, 
or  where  it  will  be  exposed  to  the  weather. 
In  these  latter  conditions  the  cheaper  German 
article  will  want  renewing  in  a  year  or  so, 
whereas  it  is  claimed  for  the  English  article 
that  it  will  keep  good  for  many  years. 

It  is  this  difference  in  quality  that  has  enabled 
the  English  manufacturers  to  make  any  stand 
at  all  against  the  German  competition,  and  save 
the  English  trade  from  being  swept  away  alto- 
gether. The  English  makers  feel,  however, 
that  their  fellow-countrymen  do  not  appreciate 
the  fact  that  in  paying,  say,  £l  extra  for  English 
gold-leaf  on  a  £20  signboard,  they  will  not  only 
help  to  maintain  a  British  industry  now  steadily 
declining,  but  will  gain  a  substantial  advantage 
for  themselves,  because  they  will  not  require 
to  have  their  signboards  regilded  (and  conse- 
quently repainted  as  well)  at  the  end  of  a  year 
or  so,  as  may  happen  when  the  cheaper  but 


THE   PUBLIC  TO   BLAME  171 

less  durable  German  gold-leaf  is  employed.  To 
the  tradesman  who  supplies  the  signboard  it 
may  be  a  distinct  advantage  to  use  the  foreign 
metal,  not  only  because  it  costs  him  less  to 
begin  with,  but  also  because  he  will  be  all  the 
sooner  called  in  to  go  over  the  work  again. 
The  remedy,  therefore,  lies  in  the  hands  of  the 
British  public. 


SOME   MISCELLANEOUS   EXAMPLES 

IN  order  to  bring  present-day  industrial  con- 
ditions still  more  forcibly  before  the  mind  of  the 
reader,  I  will  give  here  a  batch  of  illustrations 
which  may  be  left  to  speak  for  themselves  : — 

A  leading  iron  and  steel  company,  impressed 
by  what  their  competitors  across  the  Atlantic 
were  doing,  put  down  an  American  electrical 
machine  for  the  charging  of  open-hearth  furnaces. 
In  America  one  man  will  attend  to  two  or  three 
of  these  machines  ;  but  at  the  works  referred  to 
the  Steel  Melters'  Union  insisted  that  three  men 
should  be  employed  at  each  furnace,  just  as  when 
the  work  was  done  by  hand ;  and,  though  the 
union  agreed  to  a  certain  rearrangement  of  the 
wages  of  these  three  men,  it  demanded  such  an 
increase  in  the  wages  of  the  workers  in  other 
branches  of  the  steel-melting  industry  that  the 
enterprise  of  the  company  was  completely  nulli- 
fied, and  they  got  practically  no  advantage  what- 
ever from  the  new  method.  Instead  of  being 
discouraged,  however,  the  company  have  entered 

172 


AN  ERA  OF  LEVERS  AND  BUTTONS  173 

on  a  bold  policy  of  self-defence.  Spurred  on  by 
what  they  regard  as  the  unreasonable  attitude 
of  the  men's  union,  they  are  now  investigating 
the  merits  of  every  labour-saving  machine  which 
has  yet  been  adopted  in  America  or  projected 
in  Great  Britain ;  and,  though  hitherto  they 
have  followed  the  principle  of  never  displacing 
labour  by  machinery  without  having  the  strongest 
reason  for  so  doing,  they  are  looking  forward 
to  the  time  when  certain  mechanical  arrange- 
ments, chiefly  electrical,  will  enable  them  to 
dispense  with  30  per  cent,  of  the  men  whose 
union  has  been  such  a  stumbling-block  to  the 
proper  development  of  the  works.  The  aspira- 
tion of  the  enterprising  manager — told  half  in 
jest  and  half  in  earnest — is  to  have  in  the  centre 
of  the  huge  establishment  a  sort  of  conning- 
tower,  where  a  man  who  can  see  all  that  goes 
on  will  pull  levers  or  press  buttons  setting  all 
sorts  of  things  in  motion,  or  carrying  through 
all  kinds  of  processes,  with  little  or  no  need  for 
human  agency.  Machines,  the  manager  finds, 
are  much  more  reasonable  than  men,  and  he 
rejoices  in  the  fact  that  electricity  has  no  trade 
union  prejudices.  Not  but  what  he  is  sorry  for 
the  men  who  may  be  displaced.  He  says  : 

Individually   they   are   splendid   fellows,   as   strong   in 
physique  and  as  steady  and  sober  in  their  habits  as  you 


174      SOME  MISCELLANEOUS  EXAMPLES 

could  wish  them  to  be.  But  collectively  they  have  no 
moral  courage.  They  are  favourable  to  our  own  views, 
but  they  dare  not  refuse  to  obey  the  union  officials,  who 
collect  their  subscriptions  and  tell  them  what  to  do,  and 
they  will  not  sever  themselves  from  their  society  from 
fear  of  being  called  "  blacklegs." 

A  company  engaged  in  the  manufacture 
of  iron  pipes  had  an  old  shop  stocked  with 
machinery  worth  not  more  than  about  £2,000. 
They  swept  it  away,  and  in  its  place  constructed 
a  new  shop,  in  which  the  very  best  appliances 
worked  by  electricity,  air,  or  water  were  intro- 
duced— including  electric  and  hydraulic  cranes, 
pneumatic  hoists,  and  so  on — the  total  cost  of 
the  new  arrangements  being  about  £30,000. 
But  at  first  the  aspirations  of  the  company  that 
they  would  secure  a  better  output  were  com- 
pletely stultified  by  the  action  of  their  men,  who 
refused  to  produce  more  pipes  with  the  new 
methods  than  they  had  with  the  old.  Eventu- 
ally they  were  induced  to  be  more  reasonable, 
but  even  now  the  company  are  not  getting  from 
the  improved  processes  anything  like  the  results 
they  ought  to  secure ;  while  the  cost  of  pro- 
duction is  still  so  high  that  iron  pipes  from 
France  are  delivered  at  Birkenhead  at  a  lower 
rate  than  that  at  which  the  works  in  question 
can  make  them. 

Some  electric  cranes  of  the  latest  pattern  were 


THE  GENTLE  ART  OF  PERSUASION    175 

put  in  a  forge,  but  on  the  first  day  the  forge- 
men  declared  that  they  were  not  going  to  work 
"  them  there  things,"  and  they  went  off,  leaving 
all  the  furnaces  and  other  work  standing.  They 
stayed  away  a  few  days,  and  then  returned,  but 
it  was  some  time  before  they  were  thoroughly 
reconciled  to  the  innovation. 

In  the  Lean  Valley,  Notts,  the  membership 
of  the  Miners'  Association  is  still  kept  up  by 
such  practices  as  those  suggested  by  the  follow- 
ing handbill — practices  which  enable  the  arm- 
chair statisticians  of  the  Board  of  Trade  Labour 
Department  to  record  in  their  official  reports  the 
"  growth  "  of  trade  unionism  in  this  country : 

NOTTS  MINERS'   ASSOCIATION. 

New  medals  will,  by  resolution  of  the  council,  be  given 
out  on  December  23,  1897,  but  members  are  requested  not 
to  wear  them  till  Monday,  January  3,  1898. 

No  medal  will  be  given  to  any  person  who  owes  any 
arrears  whatever.  We  trust  all  members  will  see  they  are 
clear  then,  and  receive  their  medals. 

We  also  urge  them  to  bring  all  their  pressure  to  bear 
on  those  who  are  not  at  present  members,  with  a  view  of 
inducing,  or,  if  necessary,  compelling,  them  to  join  the 
association,  and  if  they  do  not  join  and  get  a  medal  by 
Monday,  January  3,  1898,  we  trust  members  will  enforce 
a  former  resolution  of  council,  and  compel  them  to  ride, 
walk,  and  work  by  themselves  in  future. 

JNO.  GEO.  HANCOCK. 
AARON  STEWART. 


176      SOME  MISCELLANEOUS  EXAMPLES 

Probably  none  but  those  who  are  in  close 
touch  with  the  industries  concerned  have  realised 
how  many  different  classes  of  men  may  be  in- 
cluded in  the  operations  of  individual  firms  or 
companies.  Thus  it  is  possible  that  a  ship- 
building establishment  may  include  platers, 
riveters,  caulkers  and  cutters,  angle-smiths, 
holders-up,  strappers  and  packers,  blacksmiths, 
fitters,  brass-finishers,  patternmakers,  copper- 
smiths, shipwrights,  joiners,  cabinetmakers, 
plumbers,  painters,  masons,  bricklayers,  sawyers, 
polishers,  boat-builders,  sailmakers,  riggers, 
sparmakers,  tinsmiths,  sawmill  men,  redleaders, 
cementers,  felters,  enginemen,  cranemen,  fire- 
men, iron  sorters,  smiths'  finishers,  machinemen, 
drillers,  holecutters  and  borers,  furnacemen, 
platers'  helpers,  angle-smiths'  strikers,  black- 
smiths' strikers,  fitters'  labourers,  patternmakers' 
labourers,  shipwrights 'labourers,  joiners'  labourers, 
plumbers'  labourers,  painters'  labourers,  masons' 
labourers,  sawyers'  labourers,  and  general  labour- 
ers— a  total  of  49  classes  in  all.  The  unions 
with  which  a  single  large  shipbuilding  and 
engineering  establishment  may  have  to  deal 
comprise  the  following :  Associated  Society  of 
Shipwrights,  United  Machine  Workers'  Asso- 
ciation, Amalgamated  Society  of  Engineers, 
Amalgamated  Society  of  Carpenters  and  Joiners, 


TRADE   UNION   FAMILY   QUARRELS     177 

Associated  Society  of  Carpenters  and  Joiners, 
Millmen  and  Machinemen's  Association,  Amal- 
gamated Union  of  Cabinet  Makers,  United 
Pattern  Makers'  Association,  National  Amalga- 
mated Society  of  Operative  House  and  Ship 
Painters  and  Decorators,  United  Operative 
Plumbers'  Association,  Co-operative  Smiths' 
Society,  Associated  Smiths'  Society,  United 
Hammer  Men  and  Forge  Furnace  Society, 
Northern  United  Enginemen's  Association, 
Steam  Engine  Makers'  Society,  National  United 
Engineers'  Society,  North  of  England  Brass 
Finishers',  Fitters',  and  Turners'  Society,  Tyne- 
side  and  National  Labour  Union,  Brass  Moulders' 
Trade  and  Benefit  Society,  Friendly  Society  of 
Ironfounders,  Boiler  Makers'  Society,  Gas- 
workers'  and  General  Labourers'  and  Operative 
Bricklayers'  Society — a  total  of  23,  without 
counting  possible  subdivisions  into  sundry  minor 
unions  for  individual  sets  of  men. 

To  the  average  outsider  the  possibilities  of 
disputes  arising  between  the  employers  and 
one  or  other  of  these  different  unions  would 
seem  to  be  great  enough  ;  but,  on  the  principle 
of  family  quarrels  being  the  worst,  the  most 
serious  troubles  generally  arise  from  disputes 
between  the  unions  themselves  respecting  such 
questions  as  the  demarcation  of  work.  In  a 

12 


178      SOME   MISCELLANEOUS   EXAMPLES 

certain  shipbuilding  yard,  for  instance,  a  number 
of  drillers  were  put  on  to  make  holes  in  some 
plates  one-tenth  of  an  inch  in  thickness.  There- 
upon the  chippers  claimed  the  work,  on  the 
ground  that  they  had  always  done  it  on  plates 
that  were  thicker,  and  therefore  they  should  be 
allowed  to  do  it  on  these.  The  firm  replied 
that  they  did  not  care  which  set  of  men  did  it, 
so  long  as  the  work  was  done.  Neither  side 
would  give  way,  and  both  drillers  and  chippers 
went  out  on  strike,  work  on  the  ship  being 
suspended.  At  last  the  shipbuilders  called  in 
some  boys  to  do  the  work,  and  the  strikers 
returned  when  the  work  was  finished,  having 
been  out  for  thirteen  weeks.  Then,  as  further 
illustrating  the  jealousy  with  which  the  "  rights  " 
of  particular  classes  are  regarded,  reference  may 
be  made  to  a  battleship  that  was  being  launched 
before  her  barbettes  had  been  put  in.  The 
shipbuilders  got  the  shipwrights  to  fix  some 
pieces  of  wood  to  indicate  where  the  barbettes 
would  eventually  be  placed,  and  thereupon  the 
joiners  left  the  vessel  in  a  body  because  the 
work  had  not  been  given  to  them.  Many 
people,  too,  will  recall  the  strike  of  fitters  and 
plumbers  which  occurred  in  the  North  in  1891, 
all  large  firms  in  the  district  being  penalised  for 
the  four  months  of  the  strike,  simply  because 


SHIPBUILDING  TROUBLES  179 

two  bodies  of  men  could  not  agree  as  to  who 
should  screw  certain  pipes.  That  troubles  of 
this  kind  are  not  still  more  frequent  is  due 
more  to  the  tact  of  the  masters  than  to  that 
of  the  men.  There  was  one  occasion,  at  least, 
when  an  employer  who  could  not  induce  his 
men  to  settle  amicably  a  dispute  as  to  which 
should  do  a  particular  piece  of  work,  took  off 
his  coat  and  did  the  job  himself.  There  comes 
a  gentle  reminder,  too,  that  the  "  Ca'  canny  " 
policy  is  not  confined  to  the  building  trade. 
For  instance,  carpenters  caulking  decks  are  not 
allowed  to  do  more  than  120  ft.  per  day,  al- 
though they  could  quite  well  do  200  ft. 

Then  there  is  a  general  restriction  as  to  the 
number  of  apprentices.  Men  who  have  been  for 
years  in  the  employ  of  a  shipbuilding  firm  can- 
not, owing  to  the  rules  of  their  unions,  bring 
their  sons  up  to  their  own  trades,  and  the  con- 
sequence is  that  in  busy  times  the  number  of 
workmen  is  insufficient.  To  restrict  output, 
one  man  may  only  attend  to  one  machine,  al- 
though he  could  sometimes  attend  to  three. 

There  are,  also,  limitations  as  to  overtime,  so 
that  a  man  may  not  work  as  long  as  he  likes, 
or  earn  as  much  as  he  wishes ;  while  the  black 
squad — platers,  riveters,  angle-smiths — compel 
the  foremen  of  their  trades  to  be  members  of 


180      SOME   MISCELLANEOUS  EXAMPLES 

their  unions.  And  yet,  in  spite  of  all  these 
sources  of  possible  troubles,  a  high  official  in 
a  large  works  where  most  of  the  conditions 
referred  to  may  be  found  is  able  to  write : 

There  is  no  wish  on  the  part  of  masters  in  this  district 
to  interfere  with  trade  unionism  as  a  principle,  but  rather 
to  encourage  it  to  proceed  upon  more  reasonable  lines 
than  it  has  of  late  years  shown  a  tendency  to  follow. 


AN   IRONMASTER'S   EXPERIENCES 

ASKED  to  tell  the  story  of  his  own  experiences, 
an  ironmaster  who  is  connected  with  a  number 
of  important  industrial  concerns  replied : 

What  I  find  in  regard  to  the  men  who  have  come  under 
my  notice  is  that  they  have  ceased  to  take  any  pride  in 
their  work,  and  their  only  concern  is  how  they  can  get 
through  it  with  the  least  trouble  to  themselves.  The 
main  reason,  perhaps,  is  to  be  found  in  the  distractions 
to  which  they  give  themselves  up.  There  are  districts 
where  the  people  seem  to  care  for  nothing  but  betting, 
football,  and  drinking.  If  the  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer would  only  compel  all  bookmakers  to  take  out  a 
licence  and  pay  a  heavy  sum  for  it,  he  would  confer  a 
great  blessing  on  this  country.  It  is  not  only  the 
ordinary  race  meetings  that  engage  the  attention  of  the 
men.  There  are  little  local  races,  called  "flapping" 
meetings,  which  take  them  off  for  the  Monday  and 
Tuesday,  and  generally  end  by  keeping  them  away  for 
the  greater  part  of  the  week.  Then  there  will  be  from 
20,000  to  30,000  people  at  a  football  match,  and  betting 
will  go  on  at  every  match.  As  for  the  drinking  habit, 
you  may  judge  of  that  by  this  little  fact.  At  a  certain 
shipyard  200  men  are  engaged,  and  the  whistle  goes  for 
the  starting  of  work  at  6  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the 
men  being  allowed  three  minutes'*  grace.  Just  outside 

181 


182        AN  IRONMASTER'S  EXPERIENCES 

the  shipyard  gate  there  is  a  publichouse,  which  must  not 
open  until  6,  and  the  question  is  how  200  men  can  be 
supplied  with  a  drink  of  whisky  in  that  short  space  of 
three  minutes  without  their  being  late  for  work.  It  is 
done  in  this  way  :  The  landlord  has  200  quarterns  of 
whisky  arranged  along  the  counter  in  readiness.  In- 
stantly on  the  stroke  of  6  he  throws  open  the  doors,  and 
the  men  rush  in.  Each  picks  up  a  quartern,  tosses  it 
down  his  throat,  and  then  rushes  out  again  at  the  opposite 
door,  having  first  called  out  his  name,  which  is  hurriedly 
written  down,  payment  for  the  liquor  being  made  when 
there  is  more  leisure.  In  this  way  the  whole  200  will 
get  their  morning  "  nip  "  within  the  three  minutes. 

But  betting,  football,  and  drinking  are  not  all.  One 
of  the  most  degrading  things  is  the  penny  theatre.  Not 
only  are  the  performances  themselves  open  to  objection, 
but  the  men  are  kept  there  till  late  at  night,  with  the 
result  that  they  are  late  in  coming  to  work  in  the  morn- 
ing. A  Bank  holiday  means  that  the  men  are  away  for 
three  or  four  days,  while  every  village  or  hamlet  has  its 
"  feast,"  or  "  wake,"  a  reminiscence  of  the  old  hiring 
days,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  custom  that  each  man  shall 
attend  the  feast  in  the  particular  place  he  comes  from, 
which  means  that  he  is  generally  away  for  a  week. 
Within  a  radius  of  five  miles  of  one  particular  works  there 
are  ten  places  where  such  feasts  are  held  between  the 
middle  of  June  and  the  end  of  August,  and  as  the 
absence  of  a  single  man  may  mean  the  stoppage  of  a 
whole  department,  it  follows  that  between  the  dates 
mentioned  there  is  nothing  but  broken  work.  Every 
holiday  means,  too,  that  instead  of  starting  next  day  at 
6  the  work  will  begin  only  at  8.30,  and  then  with  only 
40  men  out  of,  say,  500  or  600,  though  full  steam  will  be 
up,  the  engines  running,  and  the  dynamos  in  operation. 
What  a  loss  all  this  is  to  a  firm  or  company,  and  how  it 


DARE   NOT  ACCEPT  A  BIG   ORDER     183 

tends  to  send  up  the  cost  of  production,  you  can  readily 
imagine. 

Then,  again,  owing  to  the  action  of  the  trade  unions 
in  endeavouring  unduly  to  raise  wages,  furnaces  have  to 
be  kept,  or  put,  out  of  blast,  which  otherwise  it  would 
have  paid  to  work.  It  sometimes  happens  that  it  will  be 
better  for  the  ironmaster  to  stop  a  furnace  altogether 
rather  than  yield  to  a  demand  for  increased  pay,  of  which 
the  state  of  trade  will  not  allow,  so  that  the  only  result 
of  such  a  demand  is  to  throw  men  out  of  work.  There  are 
firms  which  dare  not  accept  a  really  big  order,  because 
their  doing  so  would  involve  the  construction  or  the 
starting  of  another  furnace  or  another  shop,  and  the  trade 
union  leaders  would  instantly  demand  an  increase  of  wages 
for  all  branches  of  the  trade,  or  the  concession  of  an  eight- 
hours  day.  Thus,  however  much  a  firm  might  desire  to 
increase  the  manufacturing  capacity  of  their  works,  they 
must  consider  very  seriously  before  doing  so.  As  for  new 
methods,  the  only  way  to  get  the  men  to  use  American 
appliances  is  to  throw  the  old  machines  on  the  scrap  heap, 
and  then  there  will  be  only  the  improved  processes 
available. 

Then,  as  regards  the  colliery  districts,  when  trade  is 
good  we  get  less  coal  than  we  do  when  trade  is  bad. 
Good  trade  means  that  wages  will  go  up,  but  the  men  will 
be  content  with  earning  the  same  amount  as  before  and 
do  less  work,  thus  producing  a  smaller  quantity  of  coal 
just  when  more  is  wanted.  So  we  get  the  axiom  that 
"  the  higher  the  wages  the  smaller  the  supplies.11  In  the 
same  way,  when  trade  is  bad  and  wages  fall  the  men  will 
work  harder  and  increase  their  output  in  order  to  keep 
their  wages  up  to  the  same  point. 

Alike  in  ironworks  and  collieries  the  boys  are  a  source 
of  great  trouble.  They  meet  together,  suddenly  resolve 
to  have  a  day's  holiday,  go  off',  and  the  whole  work  must 


184        AN   IRONMASTER'S  EXPERIENCES 

stop  in  consequence.  At  a  colliery  in  the  Nottingham 
district  twenty  boys  who  had  so  acted  were  prosecuted,  and 
ten  of  them  were  sent  to  prison  for  fourteen  days  in  default 
of  paying  a  fine.  Thereupon  the  whole  of  the  pitmen  went 
on  strike,  and  declared  that  they  would  not  go  back  to 
work  until  the  boys  had  come  out  of  prison.  The  whole 
question  of  getting  good,  trustworthy  boys  is,  indeed,  one 
of  the  most  troublesome  of  problems  for  employers  of 
labour  at  the  present  day.  The  practical  results  of  the 
education  movement,  so  far  as  this  question  is  concerned, 
are  in  no  way  commensurate  with  the  expenditure  it  has 
entailed.  Some  of  the  fault,  however,  must  be  attributed 
to  the  parents,  for  instances  have  occurred  where  men  who 
are  making  their  £2  or  £k  a  week  in  an  ironworks,  or 
even  more,  will,  instead  of  bringing  up  their  sons  to  the 
same  trade,  seek  for  them  a  situation  as  clerk  in  the  office, 
where,  though  they  will  not  rise  above  30s.  a  week,  they 
will  have  a  more  "  respectable "  occupation.  Some 
experiences  of  this  kind  have  led  one  ironmaster  at  least 
to  the  conviction  that  the  most  desirable  boys  for  an 
ironworks  are  orphans. 


AMERICAN  METHODS 

THE  following  interesting  account  of  the 
methods  of  work  pursued  in  the  United  States, 
contributed  by  a  gentleman  connected  with  the 
management  of  a  large  engineering  firm  in  the 
North  of  England,  may  serve  still  further  to 
enlighten  employers  and  employed  in  this  country 
as  to  the  real  nature  of  the  competition  they 
must  be  prepared  to  face: 

Like  many  other  employers,  I  recently,  while  in  America, 
tried  to  get  at  the  bottom  of  the  astonishing  manu- 
facturing superiority  of  that  country.  The  explanation 
is  a  simpler  matter  than  one  would  have  thought,  and 
lies  chiefly  in,  first,  the  really  amazing  completeness  of  the 
technical  knowledge  and  devotion  to  their  work  of 
American  employers,  and  next,  in  the  really  terrific 
energy  that  the  American  workman  throws  into  his 
work. 

The  contrast  between  the  American  workman  and  the 
English  workman  is  a  useful  one  to  contemplate,  and 
instructive  because  it  is  not  explained  by  a  double  dose 
of  original  sin  in  the  Englishman.  The  truth  is,  the  best 
workmen  in  America  are  not  Americans  at  all,  but 
Englishmen,  Germans,  and  other,  the  elite  of  European 
working  classes,  who  have  left  Europe  because  the  scope 

185 


186  AMERICAN  METHODS 

for  their  energies  is  so  terribly  restricted.  Undoubtedly 
English  trade  unionism,  in  putting  a  check  upon  in- 
dividual energy,  has  done  much  towards  driving  the 
better  workmen  of  England  out  of  the  country,  and, 
amongst  the  various  causes  of  our  industrial  decadence, 
this  gradual  sapping  away  of  our  best  men  must  be  re- 
cognised as  one  of  the  chief,  and  the  most  serious  of  its 
consequences. 

The  question  one  naturally  asked  oneself  was — How  is 
it  that  in  Pittsburg  you  find  Lancashire  and  Sheffield  men 
doing  two  and  three  times  the  work  per  day  that  they  do 
in  their  native  country?  You  have  not  got  to  the 
bottom  of  the  thing  by  putting  the  whole  blame  on  the 
obstructiveness  of  trade  unionism,  because,  when  all  is 
said  and  done,  trade  unionism,  per  se,  is  not  one  whit 
more  favourable  in  America  to  rapid  and  large  production 
than  it  is  here.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  explanation  is 
to  be  found  in  the  splendid  handling  of  their  men  which 
American  employers  show.  They  have  had  to  face  exactly 
the  same  problems  of  restricted  output  that  our  employers 
had  to  face.  American  strikes  have  been  as  extensive,  as 
serious,  and  as  damaging  as  our  own.  But  two  things 
show  very  clearly.  First,  American  employers  have  dis- 
played a  far  higher  degree  of  capacity  for  mutual 
assistance  and  organisation,  and  next,  a  greater  willingness 
to  encourage  their  men  to  share  in  the  benefits  and  profits 
of  improved  methods  and  machinery.  The  mutual  power 
of  combination  has  rendered  their  front  a  more  formidable 
one  to  the  purely  obstructive  tactics  of  union  warfare, 
while  their  ingenuity  in  devising  methods  by  which,  while 
keeping  within  the  union  rules,  they  encourage  their  men 
to  increased  production,  is  gradually  robbing  trade 
unionism  of  much  of  its  "  anti-employer "  spirit,  for  the 
simple  reason  that  the  employers  are  making  themselves 
the  protagonists  of  a  system  which  leads  to  almost 


THE   PREMIUM   SYSTEM  187 

indefinite  possibilities  for  increase  of  wages,  the  increase, 
however,  depending  entirely  upon  the  skill  and  energy  of 
the  men  employed. 

Piecework  is  being  gradually  abandoned  in  favour  of 
various  forms  of  the  premium  system.  Under  this  system 
men,  according  to  their  rating,  are  employed  at  a  weekly 
wage  which  figures  out  at  so  much  per  hour.  The  amount 
of  work  required  as  a  minimum  from  each  man  for  this 
wage  is  definitely  fixed,  and  no  one  remains  at  that  wage 
who  fails  to  reach  this  minimum.  In  this  way  a  far  higher 
standard,  both  of  wage  and  of  skill,  is  reached.  No  one 
is  employed  at  all  who  falls  below  it,  and  thus  one  of  the 
main  contentions  of  trade  unionism — i.e.,  a  minimum  wage, 
is  secured  for  the  men.  The  point  of  the  premium  system 
lies  in  the  combination  with  this  of  an  undertaking  on  the 
part  of  the  employer  to  let  each  man  who  does  more  than 
his  allotted  task  in  the  time  receive,  as  in  one  system, 
a  percentage  of  extra  wage  for  every  increase  in  work ; 
or,  as  in  another,  half  the  time  saved.  Thus  we  will 
suppose  a  turner,  engaged  at  Is.  per  hour,  has  to  produce 
20  articles  per  hour  from  his  lathe  as  a  minimum.  If  he 
produces  less  than  20  he  ceases  to  be  employed,  that  being 
the  minimum  standard  for  the  rate  at  which  he  is  engaged. 
Should  he  produce  40  in  the  hour  he  will  be  paid  either 
50  per  cent,  on  his  wages  (or  1*.  6d.  for  that  hour)  or 
half  the  time  saved,  which,  in  the  case  of  double  pro- 
duction, is  the  same.  The  difference  of  the  two  systems 
would  come  out  when  a  man  produced,  say,  four  times  his 
allotted  task.  Suppose  he  produced  80  in  the  hour,  instead 
of  20,  half  the  time  saved  on  the  extra  work  (or  60  articles) 
would  make  double  wages  and  one  half  (or  %s.  6d.)  in  the 
latter  system  ;  whereas,  by  the  former  system,  a  man  can 
never  earn  more  than  twice  the  agreed  wage.  In  practice 
there  is  little  to  choose  between  the  two,  as  it  seldom 
happens  that  the  price  of  a  job  is  such  that  it  is  possible 


188  AMERICAN  METHODS 

to  do  much  more  than  double,  or  one-and-a-half  times; 
the  task  over  the  agreed  one. 

While  in  Pittsburg  I  went  closely  into  the  working  of 
this  system  in  one  of  the  largest  and  most  important 
electrical  engineering  establishments  in  the  world.  In 
the  actual  week's  wages  sheets  which  I  inspected  there 
were  over  1000  men  who  had  earned  premiums.  The 
premiums  varied  from  25  per  cent,  to  about  100  per 
cent,  over  the  wrages,  and  an  examination  of  almost  the 
whole  of  the  premium  tickets  revealed  the  fact  that 
the  vast  majority  of  those  who  had  earned  high  premiums 
were  English  workmen  from  the  Manchester  and  Sheffield 
districts. 

A  system  such  as  this,  which  gives  such  a  splendid 
scope  to  individual  energy,  while  at  the  same  time  serving 
the  masters'1  interests  by  a  notable  lowering  of  the  costs 
of  production,  is  one  which  has  commended  itself  very 
strongly  in  America;  and  the  almost  universality  of  its 
adoption  has  rendered  any  effective  protest  on  the  part 
of  trade  unionism  impossible,  even  had  the  unionists 
been  anxious  to  protest  very  vigorously.  To  work  this 
system  satisfactorily  the  rate  of  pay  and  the  standard  of 
work  per  hour  must  be  agreed  upon  for  some  considerable 
period  of  years,  in  order  that  an  opportunity  may  be  given 
to  the  men  for  getting  the  full  benefit  of  their  increased 
skill.  As  a  rule  the  period  is  fixed  for  two  or  more  years, 
and  has  not  to  be  varied  by  the  masters  except  on  the 
introduction  of  new  machinery  to  do  the  work.  On  the 
introduction  of  such  new  machinery  a  new  rate  is  agreed, 
and  always  without  friction,  the  men  knowing  perfectly 
well  that,  whatever  the  agreed  rate,  they  will  soon  get 
skilful  enough  in  the  use  of  the  machinery  to  go  beyond 
the  allotted  margin. 

Of  course  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  in  America  the 
surplus  supplies  of  labour  are  not  so  great  as  here,  and 


AMERICA  AND  ENGLAND   COMPARED     189 

consequently  the  men  have  fewer  inducements  to  insist  upon 
unnecessary  hands  being  employed  or  jobs  being  slowed 
down  for  fear  of  throwing  comrades  out  of  work.  And 
in  this,  perhaps,  may  be  found  the  explanation  of  the 
American  employer's  freedom  to  put  an  indefinite  number 
of  automatic  machines  under  the  supervision  of  a  single 
man.  In  one  shop,  not  far  from  New  York,  I  saw  fifteen 
automatic  screw-making  machines  in  charge  of  a  tool- 
maker  and  a  boy.  Surface  grinders,  in  the  same  way,  are 
often  put  in  gangs  of  ten,  and  I  have  heard  of  as  many 
as  fifteen  being  run  by  a  single  machine-minder. 

As  far  as  the  labour  aspect  of  industrialism  is  concerned, 
the  superiority  of  America,  I  think,  lies  probably  in  the 
three  things  I  have  mentioned, — viz.9  (1)  the  technical 
knowledge  and  organising  power  of  the  employers  ;  (2) 
the  system  by  which  men  and  masters  share  in  cheapened 
processes,  and  increased  skill  on  the  part  of  the  workmen ; 
and  (3)  the  freedom  of  the  masters  to  employ  automatic 
machinery  without  superfluous  supervising  men. 

To  return  to  an  English  shop  after  seeing  shops  such 
as  these,  and  to  see  a  group  of  forty  surface  grinders  in 
the  charge  of  twenty  men,  all  standing  idly  watching  the 
machines  work,  having  literally  nothing  to  do  for  90  per 
cent,  of  their  time,  is  a  spectacle  that  sickens  and  angers 
one ;  and  it  is  a  wonder  how  Englishmen  can  find  it 
consistent  with  their  dignity  as  men  to  insist  on  drawing 
pay  for  work,  when  practically  the  whole  time  they  are 
mere  spectators. 

As  far  as  the  individual  merits  of  American  and 
English  workmen  are  concerned,  I  was  not  able  to  dis- 
cover any  greater  standard  of  skill  in  America  than  in 
England.  As  I  have  said,  a  very  large  proportion  of 
the  best  workmen  are  English  and  Germans  ;  but  un- 
doubtedly the  individual  efficiency  is  higher  on  account 
of  the  personal  anxiety  of  each  man  to  do  the  best  for 


190  AMERICAN   METHODS 

himself.  There  is  a  superiority,  but  it  is  one  that  lies 
more  in  the  general  moral  than  in  any  greater  technical 
skill  or  mechanical  knowledge. 

The  degree  to  which  labour-saving  appliances  are 
developed  on  the  grand  scale  is,  of  course,  extraordinary. 
It  is  little  wonder  that  the  Steel  Trust  makes  such  profits, 
when  one  reflects,  as  recently  pointed  out  by  Mr.  J. 
Lawrence,  M.P.,  at  Newport,  that  manufacturers  are 
paying  to-day  in  Pittsburg  individual  wages  twice  as  high 
as  are  paid  in  this  country  to  their  men,  and  in  spite  of 
this  the  steel  costs  them  per  ton  half  the  sum  in  wages  it 
costs  in  England.  The  great  sheet  steel  rolling  shed  of 
the  Homestead  Works  offers  a  sight  almost  uncanny  in 
its  way.  Two  men  working  a  Westinghouse  electric 
apparatus  will  draw  out  white-hot  ingots  from  the  furnace 
and  deposit  them  in  the  jaws  of  the  rollers,  two  others 
manipulate  the  rollers,  reducing  the  ingot  by  successive 
squeezings  to  a  sheet  many  hundreds  of  feet  in  length  ;  a 
couple  of  men  at  either  side  of  the  rollers  sprinkle  some 
kind  of  composition  on  to  the  gradually  cooling  steel ; 
and  a  seventh  manipulates  the  machinery  that  transfers 
the  long  steel  sheet  from  the  carrying  mechanism  behind 
the  rollers  to  the  cooling  ground  at  the  side.  Speaking 
from  memory,  I  cannot  be  sure  as  to  the  exact  number 
of  men  employed.  My  recollection  is  that  it  was  not 
above  seven.  It  may  possibly  have  been  nine.  In  any 
case,  the  proportion  of  men  to  the  amount  and  importance 
of  the  work  done  was  extraordinarily  small.  It  was  the 
same  in  every  shed  one  went  to — vast  buildings  with 
furnaces  down  the  middle,  or  rolling  mills,  with  hardly  a 
man  to  be  seen,  although  all  in  full  work. 

Parallel  to  this  willingness  on  the  part  of  the  American 
employer  to  spend  almost  any  money  in  improved  plant, 
machinery,  and  buildings,  if  any  saving  in  production  is 
assured  by  it,  there  is  in  almost  every  important  American 


A   SAVING   OF  3,000   PER   CENT.          191 

shop  an  exceedingly  complete  and  expensive  system  of 
keeping  the  most  minute  check  on  the  cost  of  almost 
every  single  thing  done.  The  expense  of  such  a  depart- 
ment is  considerable,  as  it  involves  an  inspector  or  clerk 
in  every  department,  and  a  staff  for  the  general  totalling 
and  analysing  of  the  returns,  say  a  clerk  to  every  fifty 
men  employed  in  the  factory.  Thus,  on  a  wages  sheet 
of  <£!  50,000  a  year,  the  costing  department  may  run  to 
£4iO  per  week.  It  is  found,  however,  that  the  money  is 
well  invested.  It  gives  the  most  efficient  check  upon  the 
cost  of  production,  defective  work  is  immediately  dis- 
covered, the  cause  of  the  defect  is  accounted  for,  and 
every  one  concerned,  from  the  chief  manager  to  the  fore- 
men's assistants,  is  put  on  his  mettle  to  make  every 
week's  or  month's  showing  an  improvement  on  its  pre- 
decessor. 

Besides  this,  the  relations  between  innumerable  great 
tool-making  firms  and  engineering  firms  are  close  and 
intimate,  so  that  improvements  in  tools,  all  with  a  view 
to  reducing  cost  and  improving  production,  is  a  process 
that  is  daily  going  forward,  while  in  every  big  engineering 
shop  a  large  proportion  of  the  tools  in  use  are  specially 
designed  for  the  standard  jobs  they  are  engaged  on.  The 
ingenuity  and  complexity  of  some  of  these  is  really 
bewildering.  One  machine  I  saw  at  work  on  small  cast- 
iron  boxes  performed  twenty-nine  drilling  operations, 
mostly  of  different  gauges,  in  three  operations,  the  whole 
not  occupying  more  than  a  minute  and  a  half  each.  One 
man  working  on  this  machine  for  six  weeks  was  able  to 
drill  a  sufficient  number  of  boxes  to  keep  the  whole  of  the 
rest  of  the  factory  occupied  with  work  the  rest  of  the  year. 
In  this  particular  instance  the  amount  saved  over  the 
ordinary  drilling  operation  of  drilling  each  hole  separately 
would  be  something  like  3,000  per  cent. 


WHITHER  "GO   EASY'    IS 
LEADING 

THE  collection  of  concrete  facts  here  presented  re- 
specting our  industrial  conditions  may  be  fittingly 
set  against  the  abstract  theories  with  which 
many  people  are  apt  to  content  themselves  in 
the  discussion  of  labour  problems.  The  in- 
vestigation made  into  these  actual  conditions 
shows  that,  even  apart  from  militant  trade 
unionism  and  the  serious  inroads  of  foreign 
competition,  a  state  of  crisis  has  indeed  been 
brought  about  in  the  world  of  labour,  and  that, 
except  in  those  instances  where  a  determined 
stand  has  been  made  by  the  employers,  injury 
is  being  done  to  our  industries  through  the 
adoption  of  ideas  started  by  Socialist  schemers, 
and  accepted  by  workers  who  either  find  those 
theories  agree  with  their  natural  inclinations,  or 
else  think  they  are  showing  consideration  for  the 
unemployed  by  leaving  a  share  of  their  own 
work  for  them.  How  the  mischief  is  spreading 
is  shown  by  a  remark  made  to  a  certain  employer 

192 


INJURY   TO  NATIONAL  TRADE          193 

by  one  of  his  steadiest  and  most  active  workers, 
who  declared  to  him,  "  I  feel  like  a  culprit  in 
doing  my  best,  and  that  I  am  doing  what  I 
have  no  business  to  do,  because  I  may  be  keeping 
another  man  out  of  a  job."  So  it  is  that  one 
of  the  things  most  urgently  required  is  that 
those  who  can  influence  the  opinion  of  the 
working  classes  of  this  country  should  seek  to 
convince  them  of  the  fallacy  of  such  reasoning, 
showing  them  that,  though  a  general  policy  of 
"  go  easy "  may  lead,  at  first,  to  more  workers 
being  put  on,  it  must  inevitably  increase  the 
cost  of  production,  send  up  prices,  diminish 
demand,  and  drive  trade  more  and  more  to 
countries  where  the  goods  can  be  turned  out 
more  cheaply.  They  should  be  shown,  too,  that 
the  best  way  of  ensuring  employment  for  those 
for  whom  there  is  now  no  work  is  so  to  improve 
the  conditions  of  trade  that  there  will  be  a 
greater  demand  for  our  manufactures,  with  a 
consequent  greater  and  more  general  demand 
for  labour.  Working  men  should  be  per- 
suaded, too,  that  if  they  adopt  "  ca'  canny " 
principles,  not  merely  as  a  "  simple  and  handy  " 
substitute  for  strikes,  but  as  a  general  policy  for 
their  everyday  labour,  they  will  merely  play 
into  the  hands  of  Socialist  leaders  who  are  as 
irresponsible  as  they  are  regardless  of  the  evils 

13 


194      WHITHER  "GO   EASY"  IS  LEADING 

of  industrial  disturbance,  and  are  animated  by 
an  aspiration  to  capture  British  industries  in  the 
hope  of  being  helped  thereby  to  secure  the 
further  items  on  their  dubious  programme.  If 
the  working  men  of  the  country  have  any  regard 
for  the  welfare  of  the  country,  and  especially  for 
the  prosperity  of  the  trades  on  which  they  are 
dependent  for  their  living,  let  them  look  into 
these  things  while  there  is  time. 


A   BRITISH   SEAPORT   UNDER 
TRADE   UNION  RULE 

THE  condition  into  which  our  industries  would 
be  in  danger  of  falling  if  the  extreme  Labour 
and  Socialist  party  were  to  gain  the  upper  hand 
can  best  be  realised  by  recalling  the  state  of 
things  that  existed  in  the  Hull  docks  in  the 
days  when  the  Dockers'  Union  was  an  active 
force  there.  At  that  time  the  affairs  of  the 
union  were  administered  in  the  local  ports  by 
local  officials  who  were  mostly  illiterate  men, 
ruling  with  a  rod  of  iron  against  which  the 
workers  over  whom  they  tyrannised  found  it 
useless  to  complain,  while  even  among  the 
workers  themselves  each  man  was  a  spy  on  his 
fellows.  No  one  was  allowed  to  work  who 
could  not  produce  a  union  card,  and  also  show 
that  he  had  paid  all  claims  on  him  up  to  date. 
One  of  the  union  officials  was  generally  at  work 
on  each  ship,  and  this  official  claimed  the  right 
of  calling  for  a  production  of  cards  whenever  he 
felt  inclined.  If  he  found  that  any  man  had  no 

195 


196    A  SEAPORT  UNDER  TRADE  UNION  RULE 

card,  or  had  not  paid  up  his  last  subscription, 
he  would  order  the  foreman  to  discharge  the 
man  at  once.  This  the  foreman  would  be 
obliged  to  do,  and  the  man  would  not  be  allowed 
to  go  on  to  another  ship  until  he  had  made 
himself  right  with  the  union.  Innumerable 
instances  of  this  kind  occurred,  even  men  who 
had  been  unable  to  pay  up  all  their  subscriptions 
on  account  of  ill-health  being  turned  adrift.  If 
the  foreman  refused  to  discharge  the  man,  word 
would  be  sent  to  one  of  the  leading  officials, 
who  would  at  once  come  on  the  scene  and 
threaten  to  call  off  every  man  from  the  vessel 
unless  the  order  given  were  instantly  obeyed. 
The  foreman  would  then  be  forced  to  yield,  and, 
later  on,  being  himself  a  member  of  the  union, 
he  would  be  compelled  to  appear  before  a 
committee  and  explain  his  conduct,  probably 
having  to  pay  a  fine  as  well  for  not  having  at 
once  obeyed  the  order  of  a  union  official. 

Then  the  employers  were  subjected  to  constant 
annoyance  by  deputations  waiting  on  them  at 
all  hours  of  the  day  over  small  matters  of  detail, 
the  members  of  the  deputations  assuming  so 
insolent  and  overbearing  a  tone  that  they  would 
go  to  the  offices  of  a  local  firm,  ask  for  the 
partners  by  their  Christian  names,  and  say, 
"Just  tell  them  that  so-and-so  has  happened, 


COERCION  THAT  FAILED  197 

which  is  contrary  to  our  rule,  and  unless  they 
rectify  it  at  once  we  shall  call  out  our  men." 

This  sort  of  thing  was  tolerated  for  some 
time ;  but  matters  were  brought  to  a  climax 
when  the  union  demanded  of  one  of  the  firms 
that  it  should  pay  up  the  arrears  of  subscription 
of  two  union  men  in  its  employ,  and  should 
compel  two  other  of  its  employes,  who  were  not 
union  men,  to  join.  Concluding  that  it  was 
time  .for  them  to  become  masters  of  their  own 
business,  the  shipowners  decided  to  place  their 
foremen  and  shipping  clerks  on  the  permanent 
staff,  and  require  them  to  leave  the  Dockers' 
Union.  Dockers,  lightermen,  coopers,  sailors  and 
firemen,  grain  porters,  and  warehousemen  were 
brought  out  on  strike  against  this  action  on  the 
part  of  the  employers  ;  but  all  to  no  purpose. 
After  lasting  six  weeks  the  strike  ended  in 
favour  of  the  shipowners,  and  the  power  of  the 
Dockers'  Union  was  effectually  broken. 


AGGRESSIVE  TRADE  UNIONISM  OUT 
OF  DATE 

THIS  is  an  ugly,  though  absolutely  true,  picture 
of  the  state  of  things  that  has  prevailed  in  an 
English  shipping  port  under  the  sway  of  trade 
unionism  of  an  exceptionally  aggressive  type, 
not  likely,  one  may  hope,  to  be  revived.  But 
even  taking  the  average  run  of  trade  unions, 
there  is,  as  a  rule  (to  which,  however,  there  are 
many  praiseworthy  exceptions),  such  a  lack  of 
elasticity  about  them,  such  an  inability  to  make 
allowance  for  modern  conditions  of  production 
and  competition,  such  an  unwillingness  to  see 
benefit  conferred  on  the  working  man  which 
might  prejudice  their  own  control  over  him, 
that  they  are  rapidly  becoming  out  of  date. 

The  majority  of  employers  will  confess  that  a 
really  well-conducted  trade  union,  worked  along 
temperate  and  reasonable  lines,  would  be  an 
excellent  thing  in  many  branches  of  our  national 
industry,  especially  in  facilitating  arrangements 
to  apply  to  the  whole  of  any  particular  trade. 

198 


GO-BETWEENS   LESS  NEEDED  199 

It  must  also  be  confessed  that  in  years  gone 
by  the  pressure  of  a  trade  union  may  have  been 
necessary  to  secure  fair  treatment  for  workmen. 
But  the  average  employer  of  to-day  recognises 
that  under  existing  economic  conditions  it  would 
be  suicidal  on  his  part  to  resort  to  lines  of  policy 
that  might  have  been  followed  with  impunity 
a  few  decades  ago.  As  it  is,  the  intervention 
of  a  trade  union  is  not  necessarily  required  to 
secure  improved  conditions  for  the  workers. 

A  further  illustration  of  this  fact — and  one 
which  deals,  too,  with  the  point  already  men- 
tioned as  to  trade  union  officials  thinking  more 
of  their  own  position  than  of  the  real  welfare 
of  their  members — comes  from  Hull.  In  May, 
1900,  an  advance  of  wages  was  given,  on  their 
own  application,  to  the  men  employed  in  dock 
labour  there.  The  officials  of  the  Dockers' 
Union  (whose  earlier  defeat  by  the  shipowners 
has  been  already  described)  were  greatly  annoyed 
on  finding  that  the  advance  had  been  granted 
without  their  intervention,  and  they  thought  to 
revenge  themselves  on  the  employers  by  causing 
trouble  in  the  port.  A  number  of  weekly 
trading  vessels  leave  Hull  on  Saturday  nights 
for  the  Continent,  and  work  on  them  has  often 
to  be  done  on  those  days  up  to  the  hour  of 
starting.  Out  of  sheer  spite  for  having  been 


200       TRADE   UNIONISM   OUT   OF  DATE 

overlooked  in  the  negotiations  on  the  wages 
question,  the  union  officials  held  meetings  and 
did  their  utmost  to  convince  the  men  that  they 
ought  to  have  a  Saturday  half-holiday.  As  it 
happened,  however,  most  of  the  men  already 
had  too  many  half-holidays  during  the  week, 
and  depended  on  the  Saturday  work  to  tide 
them  over  Sunday.  They  failed  to  see  the 
force  of  the  union  leaders'  arguments,  and, 
though  a  strike  was  proclaimed,  not  5  per  cent, 
of  the  men  joined  in  it. 


EMPLOYERS'  BENEFIT  FUNDS 

FURTHER  evidence  of  this  supreme  regard  on 
the  part  of  the  trade  union  officials  for  the 
maintenance  of  their  own  authority  is  afforded 
by  the  marked  and  persistent  opposition  they 
have  shown  to  the  benefit  funds  and  other 
beneficent  projects  carried  out  by  employers. 

The  trade  union  officials  are  especially  afraid 
that  the  funds  established  by  some  of  the  largest 
employers  of  labour  will  offer  greater  attractions 
to  a  large  body  of  trade  union  members  than 
their  own  unions  can  do  ;  and  the  fear  is  well 
founded.  It  is  well  known  that  a  good  pro- 
portion of  men  'of  the  provident  type  join  the 
unions  mainly  for  the  purpose  of  making  pro- 
vision against  sickness,  old  age,  and  death ;  but, 
apart  from  the  actuarial  weakness  of  the  funds, 
and  from  the  possibility  of  the  men  being  turned 
out  of  the  union  for  disobeying  some  official 
mandate  or  other,  the  probability  of  these 
benefits  being  obtainable  when  they  are  wanted 
is  incalculably  reduced  by  the  fact  that  trade 

201 


202  EMPLOYERS'  BENEFIT  FUNDS 

unions  use  their  benefit  funds  for  the  purposes 
of  industrial  warfare.  Even  if  this  were  not 
so,  the  members  would  have  to  depend  for  their 
prospective  benefits  on  the  money  they  had 
themselves  paid  in  ;  whereas,  in  the  case  of  the 
Great  Eastern  Railway,  for  example,  Parlia- 
mentary powers  have  been  obtained  to  place  on 
a  still  more  generous  basis  provident  funds  that 
were  started  when  the  Amalgamated  Society 
of  Railway  Servants  was  hardly  heard  of,  the 
main  additional  feature  being  an  orphan  fund, 
to  which  the  company  contribute  just  as  much 
as  the  men.  It  will  be  no  difficult  matter,  in 
such  circumstances  as  these,  for  a  worker  to 
decide  which  organisation  offers  him  the  better 
security ;  nor  is  it  surprising  that  leaders  of  the 
trade  union  movement  should  regard  the  posi- 
tion with  ill- concealed  uneasiness. 


A  TRADE    UNION  REFORM   MOVE- 
MENT 

THE  first  of  the  series  of  conclusions  to  which 
the  present  investigation  into  the  condition  of 
our  industries  has  led  is  that  there  is  abundant 
need  for  what  may  be  called  a  trade  union 
reform  movement.  In  spite  of  all  the  abuses 
to  which,  as  I  have  abundantly  shown,  it  has 
led,  the  essential  principle  of  trade  unionism  is 
good,  and  is  still  capable  of  fulfilling  a  function 
useful  not  only  to  labour  but  to  capital  as  well, 
so  long  as  it  is  conducted  along  wise  and  prudent 
lines.  There  are  in  existence  trade  unions  of 
the  old  school  against  which  not  one  word  of 
reproach  can  be  said ;  and  their  members  look 
with  disgust  on  the  tactics  of  the  newer  unions, 
with  their  coercive  policy,  their  restriction  of 
output,  and  their  systematic  interference  with 
the  individual  rights  both  of  men  and  of  masters. 
As  an  illustration  of  the  older  and  more  tolerant 
unions  we  may  take  the  case  of  the  London 
Union  of  Journeymen  Basketmakers.  The  exact 

203 


204    A   TRADE   UNION   REFORM   MOVEMENT 

age  of  this  union  is  not  known,  but  its  records 
go  back  to  1815,  so  that  it  counts  as  one  of 
the  oldest  in  the  country  ;  and,  happily,  it  has 
never  yet  been  brought  up  to  date.  It  has, 
accordingly,  retained  some  old-fashioned  preju- 
dices of  which  it  is  quite  refreshing  to  hear. 
There  are,  it  is  true,  recognised  "  society  "  houses 
in  the  trade,  but  the  society  hands  would  never 
think  of  raising  any  objection  if  the  employer 
put  on  a  non-society  hand  to  work  alongside 
of  them.  If  they  found,  at  the  end  of  a  week 
or  so,  that  the  newcomer  was  likely  to  stay, 
the  suggestion  would  be  made  to  him,  in  quite 
a  friendly  way,  that  he  should  join  the  society ; 
but  if  he  did  not  care  to  do  so  he  would  hear 
no  more  of  the  matter,  and  would  be  left  free 
to  do  as  he  pleased.  Any  individual  who  sought 
to  bring  pressure  to  bear  on  him  would  be  re- 
garded with  severe  displeasure  by  his  fellow- 
members.  A  society  man,  too,  can  work  in 
a  non-society  shop  if  the  employer  pays  the 
recognised  rate  of  wages.  As  for  interfering 
with  any  man's  right  to  work  as  long  and  as 
hard  as  he  pleases,  such  a  thing  is  unknown 
among  the  trade  union  basketmakers.  They 
do  say  that  Sunday  work  shall  not  be  done 
without  a  reasonable  excuse,  but  that  is  all. 
The  society  does  not  limit  the  number  of 


LEGITIMATE   PURPOSES  205 

apprentices,  there  is  a  frequent  revision  of  the 
rules,  .any  changes  made  being  first  approved 
by  the  members  assembled  at  a  special  meeting, 
and  the  officials  have  no  powers  whatever  be- 
yond those  directly  delegated  to  them.  The 
chief  function  of  the  society  is  to  regulate  wages 
and  to  administer  out-of-work  and  sick  benefit 
funds,  and  with  such  modest  objects  as  these 
the  members  are  quite  content. 

Had  trade  unions  kept  to  strictly  legitimate 
purposes  of  this  type  no  one  could  have  offered 
a  word  of  objection  to  them.  But  some  years 
ago  the  Socialists,  who  had  previously  despised 
the  trade  unionists  and  refused  to  have  any- 
thing to  do  with  them,  thought  that  by  cap- 
turing trade  unionism  they  could  advance  their 
own  propaganda,  and  since  then  they  have 
made  unremitting  efforts  in  this  direction.  The 
Socialist  leaders  advised  their  members  to  join 
the  different  unions,  or  the  different  branches, 
and,  as  these  members  were  men  accustomed 
to  a  vigorous  type  of  oratory,  they  soon  came 
to  the  front,  and  pushed  the  older  and  more 
easy-going  trade  unionists  to  the  background. 

Then  the  men  of  the  latter  type  took  to  ab- 
senting themselves  almost  entirely  from  their 
society  meetings,  and,  though  they  grumbled 
in  the  shops,  they  left  the  actual  management 


206    A  TRADE   UNION   REFORM   MOVEMENT 

of  the  unions  partly  to  the  Socialists,  partly 
to  the  ne'er-do-wells  and  the  indolent  workers 
(who  had  a  direct  interest  in  keeping  down 
both  the  individual  output  and  the  total  number 
in  the  trade),  and  very  largely  in  the  hands 
of  the  officials,  between  whom  and  the  two 
classes  referred  to  there  soon  grew  up  a  com- 
munity of  interest. 

It  is  mainly  in  these  directions  that  the  de- 
cadence of  the  British  trade  union  as  a  useful 
institution  has  been  brought  about,  and  that 
the  abuses  dealt  with  in  these  pages  have 
crept  in.  So  it  is  that  unionists  who  really 
have  the  welfare  of  trade  unionism  at  heart 
should  not  be  content  merely  with  reproaching 
those  who  point  out  these  abuses,  but  should 
exert  themselves  to  secure  the  reform  of  the 
institution  whose  well-being  they  have  at  heart. 

In  this  respect  one  cannot  too  often  re-echo 
the  declaration  of  the  Sheffield  manufacturer— 
that  "if  we  are  to  have  trade  unions,  the  best 
men  in  the  trade  should  take  a  more  active 
share  in  their  management."  If  this  were  done, 
the  reform  movement  here  recommended  could 
be  the  more  readily  started  within  the  unions 
themselves  ;  and  it  should  be  followed  up  by 
efforts  from  both  the  inside  and  the  outside  to 
enlighten  those  among  the  trade  unionists  who 


THE   REMEDY   OF  ABUSES  207 

are  disposed  to  be  led  astray  by  economic 
fallacies  which  are  injurious  alike  to  their  wel- 
fare as  workers  and  to  their  character  as  men, 
while  being,  also,  highly  detrimental  to  the 
well-being  of  the  country.  The  Socialist  pro- 
paganda must  be  met  by  an  equally  active 
anti- Socialist  propaganda,  and  those  who  would 
preserve  trade  unionism,  with  all  its  possibili- 
ties for  good,  from  the  reproaches  of  employers 
and  the  scorn  of  honest  men  and  women,  must 
see  that  the  abuses  which  have  warranted  these 
reproaches  and  this  scorn  are  wiped  out  with- 
out further  delay.  Trade  unionism  itself  is  in 
a  state  of  crisis  at  the  present  moment,  no  less 
than  British  industry,  and  if  it  is  to  be  saved 
its  defence  must  be  conducted  by  the  active 
personal  efforts  of  the  workers  themselves,  and 
not  left  to  the  moral  reflections  of  fireside 
economists. 


THE  EMPLOYERS'  POLICY   OF 
SELF-DEFENCE 

THERE  is  the  greater  reason  why  the  trade 
unionists  should  set  their  house  in  order,  inas- 
much as  employers  of  labour  are  not  likely  to 
be  wholly  content  with  appealing  to  their  better 
nature  or  their  common  sense,  or  with  the  un- 
certain effects  of  a  movement  to  promote  their 
higher  education  in  labour  questions.  So  far 
as  the  present  series  of  inquiries  shows,  em- 
ployers are  quite  willing  to  let  these  things 
have  a  fair  chance ;  but,  at  the  same  time, 
they  are  keenly  on  the  look-out  for  adopting 
every  possible  labour-saving  machine  which  will 
allow  of  their  overcoming  trade  union  restric- 
tions by  employing  unskilled  non-union  labour, 
at  the  same  time  that  such  machinery  allows 
of  an  increased  output  at  a  decreased  cost  of 
production.  This  is  the  employers'  policy  of 
self-defence.  This  is  the  reply  which,  wher- 
ever they  can,  they  are  making  to  the  enforce- 
ment of  unyielding,  unreasonable,  and  oppressive 

208 


METHODS   OF  PRODUCTION  209 

trade  union  rules  in  complete  disaccord  with 
the  necessities  of  our  present  economic  situa- 
tion. In  every  direction  one  hears  of  employers 
who,  with  wits  sharpened  by  difficulties,  and 
determination  made  keener  by  opposition,  are 
looking  to  improved  machinery  as  the  one  thing 
likely  to  give  greater  freedom  to  themselves 
and  greater  prosperity  to  the  trade  in  which 
they  are  concerned.  In  some  instances  there 
will  certainly  be  a  displacement  of  labour ;  in 
others  there  will  be  an  increased  demand  for 
labour  because  of  the  expansion  of  business, 
but  it  will  be,  in  the  main,  for  such  labour  as 
will  not  come  under  the  domination  of  trade 
union  officials.  Various  illustrations  of  what 
is  being  done  in  these  directions  have  already 
been  given  ;  but,  as  a  further  example  of  the 
tendencies  of  the  day,  it  may  be  mentioned 
that  the  most  exquisite  engravings  for  type- 
founding  and  other  purposes  are  now  being 
produced  by  processes  which,  from  the  moment 
the  artist  has  completed  the  original  design, 
are  purely  mechanical,  the  actual  workers  being 
men  formerly  working  as  ostlers,  omnibus 
drivers,  or  in  other  such  capacities. 

So  it  is  that  improved  machinery  is  regarded 
as  one  of  the  greatest  factors  in  the  industrial 
position  of  to-day.  Yet,  even  with  the  use 

14 


210     EMPLOYERS'   POLICY   OF   SELF-DEFENCE 

of  such  machinery,  it  will  be  difficult  enough, 
employers  say,  to  fight,  not  only  against  the 
prejudices  of  workers,  but  also  against  hostile 
tariffs  and  the  "  surplus  "  systems  of  the  United 
States  and  Germany.  It  is  hoped,  however,  the 
workers  themselves  will  see  that,  quite  apart 
from  any  question  of  trade  union  restrictions,  it 
will  be  useless  to  fight  against  the  adoption  and 
also  against  the  efficient  working  of  just  such 
machinery  as  our  foreign  competitors  are  using, 
if  British  industries  are  to  hold  their  own. 

At  the  same  time  there  will  be  a  better  chance 
of  the  employers  winning  the  workers  over  to 
their  side,  and  persuading  them  to  get  the  best 
results  out  of  the  improved  machinery,  if  they 
themselves  do  more  in  the  way  of  enabling  the 
workers  to  share  in  the  pecuniary  advantages 
derived  therefrom.  Whether  such  additional 
incentive  should  be  offered  by  means  of  an 
increased  wage,  by  the  profit-sharing  system, 
by  the  American  premium  system,  or  by  any 
other  method,  would  depend  on  circumstances ; 
but  the  one  thing  to  aim  at  would  be  to  let 
the  men  see  that  they  were  getting  a  direct 
benefit  from  the  better  economic  results.  There 
is,  of  course,  the  possibility  that  some  men 
might  still  be  content  with  such  wage  as  they 
had  before,  and  not  rise  to  the  same  standard 


HOME   COMBINATION 

of  zeal  and  aspiration  as  the  American  workmen 
do ;  but  the  vast  majority  would  probably 
avail  themselves  of  the  chance  to  improve 
their  position,  if  they  were  perfectly  free  so 
to  do. 


INDUSTRIAL   TRAINING 

HOWEVER  great  and  however  widespread  may 
be  that  resort  to  improved  mechanical  appliances 
to  which  reference  has  already  been  made,  there 
will  still  be  need  for  a  certain  proportion  of 
skilled  labour  ;  and  there  is  a  keen  conviction 
on  the  part  of  employers  that  some  really 
efficient  system  of  industrial  training  is  needed 
to  meet  the  breakdown  of  the  apprenticeship 
system.  Boys  are  said  to  start  ill-equipped  in 
the  first  instance,  for  the  Board  School  system 
of  teaching  as  a  prelude  to  factory  life  is  spoken 
of  slightingly,  and  the  average  London  boy, 
especially,  is  declared  to  be  lacking  in  discipline 
in  respect  to  his  superiors  and  in  willingness  to 
apply  himself  to  any  settled  work  sufficiently 
long  to  become  master  of  it.  There  are  some 
employers  who  look  with  almost  longing  eyes 
to  the  training  that  follows  from  the  Continental 
system  of  conscription  as  a  means,  at  least,  of 
inculcating  obedience  to  orders ;  and  others 
profess  to  get  their  best  lads  from  those  who 

212 


BOYS :  THEIR  FAULTS  AND  THEIR  NEEDS 

have  been  trained  in  such  institutions  as  Dr. 
Barnardo's  homes.  But  the  difficulty  in  the 
moral  elevation  of  the  working  boy  is  one  yet 
to  be  surmounted.  In  regard  to  his  being  fitted 
for  skilled  industries  there  is  a  feeling  that  this 
will  best  be  met  by  employers  taking  the  matter 
up  themselves,  and  providing  a  practical  training, 
with  the  help  of  their  foremen,  managers,  or 
other  competent  persons,  rather  than  depending 
on  the  theoretical  teaching  given  at  ordinary 
science  or  technical  classes.  That  the  trade 
union  officials  would  oppose  any  such  move- 
ment on  the  ground  that  it  would  "flood  the 
labour  market "  is  a  matter  of  course,  but  some 
such  action  will  have  to  be  taken  if  we  are 
to  hold  our  own  in  competition  with  foreign 
countries. 

Coupled  with  the  provision  of  better  training 
for  skilled  labour,  it  is  felt  by  employers  that 
parents  should  forgo  the  false  pride  that  prompts 
them  to  keep  their  sons  out  of  industries  which 
offer  lucrative  positions  in  life,  in  order  to  put 
them  into  genteel  clerkships  where  they  will 
get  little  more  than  a  starvation  wage. 


EMPLOYERS'  COMBINATIONS 

FAILING  other  and  more  pacific  methods  of 
overcoming  the  restrictive  tactics  of  the  more 
aggressive  among  the  trade  unions,  there  will 
still  be  open  to  employers  the  policy  of  forming 
powerful  associations  and  federations  among  them- 
selves. Much  benefit  might  have  been  gained 
in  the  past  from  a  general  adoption  of  this 
policy ;  and  it  is  possible  that  the  glass  trades 
and  the  lighter  Sheffield  trades,  for  instance, 
would  not  have  been  in  their  present  unsatis- 
factory condition  if  there  had  been  cohesion 
among  the  employers,  leading  them  to  make 
a  united  and  determined  stand  against  the 
conditions  that  hampered  them  so  greatly.  In 
many  quarters  the  formation  of  powerful  com- 
binations among  employers  is  advocated  as  the 
only  effectual  means  of  holding  in  check  the 
overbearing  type  of  trade  union  leader. 

If,  it  is  said,  the  great  fight  in  the  engineering 
trade  had  not  taken  place,  the  pretensions  of 
such  individuals  would  by  this  time  have  become 

214 


DEMOCRACIES   AND   OLIGARCHIES      215 

so  great  that  many  a  British  industry  would  have 
been  completely  crippled.  "The  engineering 
dispute,"  declared  one  large  employer  of  labour, 
"  was  the  Waterloo  of  British  capitalists.  If 
there  is  to  be  any  more  trouble,  let  us  all  join 
together  and  have  a  still  bigger  fight,  and  then 
we  shall  settle  the  question  once  for  all,  by 
establishing  the  right  of  freedom  of  contract 
between  master  and  man  without  the  incessant 
interference  and  the  incessant  attempts  at 
domination  on  the  part  of  trade  union  officials." 
Large  combinations  on  the  part  of  employers 
are  often  regarded  as  akin  to  trade  unions 
among  the  men.  In  point  of  fact  they  must 
be  looked  at  from  a  different  standpoint.  In 
most  of  the  trade  unions  the  power  is  exercised 
by  the  officials,  and  the  members  have  practically 
no  voice  in  the  management.  In  the  employers' 
association  or  federation  the  members  are  supreme, 
their  council  is  a  real  governing  body,  and  the 
officials  simply  carry  out  the  instructions  they 
receive.  Thus  we  have  the  curious  result  that 
a  capitalists'  combination  is  a  democracy,  while 
a  trade  union  is  an  oligarchy,  if  not  sometimes 
an  autocracy.  Then,  again,  a  large  federation 
of  employers  can  be  trusted  to  do  the  right 
thing,  because  it  represents  employers  of  all 
classes  and  all  shades  of  opinion.  The  small 


216  EMPLOYERS1  COMBINATIONS 

master  inclined  to  small  ideas  must  work  in 
harmony  with  large  masters  of  broader  views. 
Such  a  body  will  generally  be  disposed  to  do 
what  is  just  and  fair  towards  the  workers  without 
the  intervention  of  a  trade  union ;  and  this  is 
a  further  reason  for  suggesting  that  there  is  no 
longer  the  same  necessity  for  trade  unions  of  the 
more  active  type  that  there  may  have  been  in 
former  days.  In  any  case,  there  is  greater 
certainty  of  the  workers'  getting  fair  treatment 
from  a  federated  body  than  from  a  scattered 
group  of  individual  employers.  The  federated 
body  can  also  do  for  the  worker  what  the  in- 
dividual employer  could  hardly  attempt.  If, 
for  instance,  a  small  shipowner  should  lose  one 
or  two  ships  he  may  be  ruined,  and  find  it 
impossible  to  do  anything  for  the  families  of 
his  seamen  ;  whereas,  if  he  were  a  member  of 
a  powerful  combination,  relief  would  be  given 
out  of  a  general  fund.  In  the  same  way  there 
is  much  greater  facility  afforded  for  the 
establishment  of  benefit  and  other  funds  on  a 
comprehensive,  generous,  and  really  sound  basis. 
And  this  consideration  leads  to  the  further 
suggestion — that  there  should  be  a  more  general 
creation  of  such  funds,  with  the  view  of  bringing 
about  a  closer  tie,  a  more  cordial  relationship, 
and  a  greater  community  of  interest  between 


THE   POSITION   OF  FOREMEN  217 

master  and  man.  More  especially  should  em- 
ployers assure  to  their  foremen  benefits,  in  the 
way  of  sick  allowance,  superannuation,  or  life 
insurance,  fully  equal  to  what  they  are  likely  to 
get  from  the  trade  unions,  and  so  leave  them 
no  reason  for  remaining  in  the  anomalous 
position  they  too  often  occupy. 


TRADE  UNION  PROVIDENT  FUNDS 

LEGISLATION  is  certainly  required  to  ensure  that 
all  trade  unions,  and  especially  those  having 
provident  funds,  shall  be  registered,  and  that 
such  provident  funds  shall  not  be  utilised  for 
strike  purposes.  The  Legislature  should  also 
see  that  a  working  man  who  has  paid  into  the 
provident  funds  of  his  union  for  a  term  of 
years,  and  is  depending  on  those  funds  for  an 
old-age  pension,  for  sickness,  or  as  a  life  in- 
surance, is  not  to  be  deprived  of  any  of  these 
benefits  by  being  arbitrarily  expelled  from  his 
union  simply  because  he  has  acted  against  the 
wishes  of  the  executive  in  regard  to  some  purely 
industrial  question.  It  is  in  this  power  of  ex- 
pulsion, with  consequent  loss  of  benefits  for 
which  a  man  may  have  been  paying  for  ten, 
twenty,  or  thirty  years,  that  the  great  hold 
exercised  by  the  more  autocratic  of  the  officials 
over  the  members  of  a  trade  union  mainly 
consists.  It  deprives  the  men,  too,  of  all  free- 
dom of  action,  however  clearly  they  may  see 

218 


WHAT   A  UNION   MIGHT  DO  219 

that  it  would  be  to  their  own  advantage  and 
to  that  of  the  trade  they  are  in  to  agree  to 
the  improved  methods  and  conditions  desired 
by  their  employers. 

Each  of  these  reforms  in  regard  to  trade  union 
funds  would,  no  doubt,  be  strenuously  opposed 
by  the  labour  leaders ;  but  each  would  be  only 
an  act  of  justice  to  the  rank  and  file  of  the 
members.  The  whole  position  of  trade  union 
funds  is,  indeed,  one  that  calls  for  serious  in- 
quiry, if  not  for  thorough-going  reform.  There 
is  a  certain  trade  union  concerning  whose 
despotic  action  in  expelling  a  member,  and  de- 
priving him  of  all  prospective  superannuation 
and  other  benefits,  the  opinion  of  eminent 
counsel  was  taken.  Counsel  found  that  not 
only  had  the  member  in  question  no  legal  re- 
dress, but,  although  the  union  had  over  £50,000 
accumulated  funds,  it  would  be  quite  lawful, 
under  the  rules  of  this  particular  society,  for 
the  officials  to  call  a  meeting  of  the  members, 
to  expel  from  the  society  all  those  who  did 
not  attend,  and  to  go  on  holding  such  meetings, 
with  like  procedure,  until  there  were  left  in 
the  union  only  a  mere  handful  of  individuals, 
who  could  then  distribute  the  funds  between 
them.  It  might,  therefore,  reasonably  be  sug- 
gested that,  if  the  opportunity  should  present 


220      TRADE   UNION   PROVIDENT  FUNDS 

itself,  Parliament  should  be  invited  to  bestow 
some  attention  to  the  subject  of  trade  unions 
and  their  provident  funds,  and  take  action 
thereon  with  the  view  of  declaring  that  where 
funds  have  been  paid  into  a  trade  organisation 
for  purely  beneficent  purposes  they  shall  not 
be  applied  to  any  other  ;  though  even  then  the 
members  would  still  have  to  run  the  risk  of 
being  suddenly  excluded  from  the  benefits  for 
which  they  had  paid,  unless  provision  were 
made,  also,  against  such  a  possibility  as  this. 


THE  BOARD  OF  TRADE  AND  ITS 
LABOUR  DEPARTMENT 

THE  final  suggestion  to  be  made  is  whether  the 
time  has  not  arrived  for  some  practical  step  to 
be  taken  to  secure  from  the  employing  classes 
in  this  country  a  greater  degree  of  confidence 
in  the  Board  of  Trade  and  its  Labour  Depart- 
ment. It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  at  the 
present  moment  such  confidence  is  so  small  as 
to  be  almost  non-existent.  Official  proof  of 
this  fact  is  given  by  the  recent  report  show- 
ing the  very  little  advantage  which  has  been 
taken  of  the  Conciliation  Act,  1896.  Under 
this  Act  the  Board  of  Trade  was  formally 
authorised  to  inquire  into  any  dispute  that  arose, 
or  %  threatened  to  arise,  between  employers  and 
employed,  to  take  steps  to  promote  a  confer- 
ence between  them,  and  to  appoint  a  con- 
ciliator on  the  application  of  either  side,  or  an 
arbitrator  on  the  application  of  both  sides. 
The  Act  came  into  operation  in  August,  1896. 

Between  that  date  and  June,  1901,  there  were 

221 


222  THE   BOARD   OF  TRADE 

3,868  labour  disputes ;  but  of  these  only  113 
were  dealt  with  under  the  Act.  For  the  two 
years  ended  June,  1901,  the  total  was  46. 

Conversation  with  a  large  number  of  em- 
ployers and  managers  of  industrial  enterprises 
confirms  the  impression  conveyed  by  these 
figures — that  there  is  a  widespread  reluctance 
to  entrust  the  settlement  of  labour  troubles  to 
the  Board  of  Trade.  It  is  true  that  in  the 
Birmingham  brass  trades  there  was  a  feeling 
of  complete  satisfaction  on  the  part  of  the 
employers  with  the  award  of  the  arbitrator  ap- 
pointed by  the  Board  in  regard  to  those  parti- 
cular trades.  But  elsewhere  there  has  been 
much  reluctance  to  make  what  seemed  to  be 
regarded  as  a  risky  experiment  in  inviting  the 
aid  of  State  officials  who  were  thought  to  have 
a  distinct  bias  in  favour  of  trade  unionism. 

Against  the  Labour  Department  of  the  Board 
of  Trade  I  found  the  prejudice  to  be  espe- 
cially keen.  "  We  do  not  doubt  the  integrity 
of  the  leading  officials,"  said  the  manager  of 
one  very  large  industrial  concern,  "  but  we 
cannot  fail  to  see  that  they  look  at  labour 
questions  through  trade  union  spectacles." 
"We  keep  clear  of  the  Board  of  Trade  and 
the  Labour  Department  altogether,"  said  an- 
other. "What  is  wanted  there  is  to  have 


LABOUR  DEPARTMENT  CRITICISED     223 

a  body  of  men  of  judicial  minds,  who  have 
leanings  neither  to  employers  nor  to  employed, 
and  not  men  who  are  steeped  in  trade  union- 
ism." One  influential  employer  described  the 
Labour  Department  as  "  something  to  be  held 
at  arm's  length  " ;  another  declared,  "  I  would 
rather  give  up  business  than  allow  a  Board 
of  Trade  official  to  come  between  me  and  my 
men " ;  still  another  said,  "  You  can  hardly 
expect  that  we  should  go  before  an  arbitrator 
appointed  by  a  body  deriving  its  information 
from  trade  union  officials "  ;  while  a  Sheffield 
employer  writes,  "  The  lack  of  confidence  felt 
by  employers  here  in  the  Board  of  Trade  is 
very  strong  and  very  general,  so  much  so  that 
no  case  of  the  Board  of  Trade  being  brought 
upon  the  scene  has  ever  come  under  my 
notice."  In  the  railway  world  it  is  declared 
that  there  is  quite  as  much  need  for  railway 
companies  to  combine  against  the  "meddle- 
some interference "  of  the  Board  of  Trade— 
if  British  railways  are  to  be  worked  at  a  profit 
at  all — as  there  is  for  them  to  combine  against 
any  aggressive  action  on  the  part  of  the  trade 
unions. 

The  outcome  of  this  state  of  things  is  not 
only  the  small  number  of  applications  made 
to  the  Board  of  Trade  under  the  Conciliation 


THE   BOARD   OF  TRADE 

Act,  but  a  widespread  reluctance  on  the  part 
of  employers  to  give  any  information  whatever 
to  the  Labour  Department.  There  are  em- 
ployers who  have  systematically  returned  with 
the  following  endorsement  the  "  forms  "  sent  to 
them  by  that  department:  "Decline  to  report. 
Have  no  confidence  in  the  Labour  Department 
of  the  Board  of  Trade  as  at  present  consti- 
tuted." Some  firms  regard  this  endorsement 
as  so  much  a  matter  of  routine  that  they  are 
even  said  to  make  it  with  the  help  of  a  rubber 
stamp  ! 

In  the  course  of  a  speech  to  a  deputation 
from  the  Trade  Union  Congress  which  waited 
on  him  at  the  Board  of  Trade  in  Decem- 
ber, 1898,  Mr.  Ritchie  referred  to  himself  as 
"the  head  of  the  great  trading  department  of 
the  country,  which  was  also  charged  with  the 
interests  of  labour " ;  and  the  complaint  made 
against  that  department  is  that  it  shows  too 
pronounced  a  leaning  towards  the  interests, 
not  alone  of  labour — as  distinct  from  those  of 
capital — but  of  trade  union  labour.  Sir  Francis 
Hopwood,  the  Permanent  Secretary  of  the 
Board  of  Trade,  is  regarded  as  having  shown 
this  leaning  in  his  report  on  the  Taff  Vale 
dispute,  wherein  he  stated  that  he  was  opposed 
to  the  sending  away  of  the  free-labour  men 


TRADE   UNION   LEANINGS  225 

"  summarily,"  but  added :  "  I  had  great  diffi- 
culty in  getting  the  principle  of  taking  all 
back  admitted  by  the  company,  who  flatly  re- 
fused to  reduce  the  two  months  to  a  shorter 
time."  Why  the  influence  of  Board  of  Trade 
officials  should  be  brought  to  bear  at  all  on  a 
company  to  get  rid  of  non-union  men  who  have 
helped  them  out  of  a  difficulty,  and  to  take  on 
again  in  their  place  the  men  who  have  broken 
their  contract,  is  not  quite  clear.  Then,  con- 
sidering that  the  Chief  Labour  Correspondent 
of  the  Labour  Department  was  formerly  general 
secretary  of  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  En- 
gineers, and  that  one  of  the  other  three  labour 
correspondents  is  the  late  general  secretary  of 
the  London  Society  of  Compositors,  it  would 
be  only  in  accordance  with  the  weakness  of 
human  nature  if  they  should  have  retained  a 
tender  regard  for  trade  union  principles. 

As  for  the  body  of  "  local "  correspondents 
of  the  Labour  Department,  thirty  or  so  in 
number,  the  whole  of  them,  with  a  single  ex- 
ception, according  to  a  list  recently  published, 
are  trade  union  officials  in  the  districts  they 
represent.  It  is  from  individuals  of  this  stamp 
that  the  Labour  Department  gets  its  inspiration 
as  to  the  industrial  conditions  of  the  country 
— and,  presumably,  the  Labour  Department 

15 


226  THE   BOARD   OF  TRADE 

inspires  the  Board  of  Trade,  and  the  Board,  of 
Trade  inspires  the  Government. 

The  sort  of  information  supplied  by  these 
"  local "  correspondents  to  the  Labour  Gazette, 
in  which  their  contributions,  after  having  under- 
gone a  careful  pruning  and  sub-editing,  are  duly 
published,  may  be  judged  from  a  single  illustra- 
tion. Readers  of  these  articles  will  remember 
the  dismal  story  told  of  the  harm  done  to  the 
flint-glass  industry  through  trade  union  tactics. 
When  one  looks  in  the  Labour  Gazette  for 
November,  1901,  for  information  on  the  subject, 
one  finds  the  following  paragraph,  contributed 
by  the  Wolverhampton  correspondent : 

Glass  Trades. — Employment  in  all  branches  of  the  flint- 
glass  trade  is  quiet. 

Quiet,  indeed !  The  flint-glass  trade  may 
well  be  quiet,  in  view  of  the  conditions  under 
which  it  is  carried  on,  as  already  recorded  ;  but 
it  is  quite  certain  that  the  gentleman  who 
supplied  the  above  item  would  not  have  dared 
to  say  why  the  trade  is  quiet,  and  it  may  be 
doubted  whether,  if  he  had,  the  editor  of  the 
Labour  Gazette  would  have  put  it  in. 

The  local  correspondents  are  paid  salaries 
ranging  from  £15  to  £30  a  year  ;  but  such  is 
the  prestige  they  acquire  among  their  fellows 


LOCAL   LABOUR   CORRESPONDENTS 

by  virtue  of  the  position  they  hold  that,  as  one 
employer  of  labour  declared,  "it  would  pay 
them  to  take  the  appointment  at  30s.  the  year, 
or  even  30  pence."  As  it  is,  their  salary  from 
the  Board  of  Trade,  added  to  their  salary  as 
trade  union  officials,  should  enable  them  to 
live  without  following  their  own  trade  at  all. 

The  special  opportunities,  too,  that  may  be 
opened  out  to  them  as  agents  of  the  Govern- 
ment are  indicated  by  the  following  incident. 
In  a  certain  provincial  town  where  unionism  is 
an  active  force,  it  is  not  unusual  for  the  em- 
ployers to  make  private  arrangements  with  their 
men,  without  submitting  the  matter  for  the 
previous  approval  of  the  trade  union.  A  local 
trade  union  secretary  had  reason  to  believe  that 
a  particular  employer  had  just  concluded  an 
arrangement  of  this  sort,  and  he  applied,  as 
secretary,  for  information  on  the  point.  It  was 
refused.  But  it  so  happened  that  the  secretary 
in  question  was  the  local  correspondent  of  the 
Board  of  Trade  Labour  Department ;  and 
shortly  afterwards  the  employer  received  from 
London  a  request,  sent  to  him  in  the  name 
of  the  Commissioner  for  Labour,  for  the  very 
information  which  he  had  previously  refused 
to  disclose  to  the  local  trade  union  secretary  ! 
The  employer  took  no  notice  of  the  request. 


228  THE   BOARD   OF  TRADE 

A  fortnight  later  he  received  another  communi- 
cation from  the  Labour  Department,  announcing 
that  it  would  be  "  much  obliged  "  if  he  would 
reply  to  the  previous  inquiry,  and  enclosing  a 
copy  of  the  schedule  previously  sent,  "in  case 
the  original  has  been  mislaid."  The  employer 
began  to  be  uneasy.  The  first  document  he 
had  received  bore  the  words  : 

These  statistics  are  collected  and  published  by  the 
Department  in  pursuance  of  the  following  resolution 
adopted  by  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  2nd  March, 
1886 :  "  That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  House,  imme- 
diate steps  should  be  taken  to  ensure  in  this  country  the 
full  and  accurate  collection  of  labour  statistics." 

He  had  visions  of  possible  trouble  with  the 
aforesaid  House  of  Commons  ;  but  he  was  most 
reluctant  to  give  the  information  asked  for, 
believing,  as  he  did,  that  in  some  way  or  other 
it  might  get  into  the  hands  of  the  local  secretary, 
and  be  used  to  his  own  detriment.  In  his 
dilemma  he  consulted  a  competent  authority  in 
London  as  to  his  responsibilities  in  the  matter, 
and  he  was  so  far  reassured  that  the  answer 
eventually  sent  was  as  follows :  "  Referring  to 
yours  of ,  we  prefer  not  to  supply  informa- 
tion with  regard  to  our  trade  arrangements." 

Then  there  was  a  certain  local  correspondent 
of  the  Labour  Department  who  was  "  in- 


A  TRADE   UNIONIST  ALL   HIS   LIFE      229 

structed"  to  visit  the  district  of  Bethesda  for 
the  purpose  of  making  inquiries  as  to  the  dis- 
pute at  the  Penrhyn  quarries  and  reporting 
thereon  to  the  Board  of  Trade.  A  Carnarvon 
paper  attacked  him  on  the  ground  that  he  could 
not  speak  Welsh ;  and  in  the  course  of  a  letter 
he  sent  in  reply  he  wrote : 

There  is  no  one  that  sympathises  more  than  I  with  the 
Bethesda  men,  and  this  I  do  say  as  a  Welshman,  having 
lived  all  my  life  in  Wales.  I  may  also  add  that  I  have, 
as  a  working  man,  done  as  much  for  Welsh  nationalism 
as  any  man  in  Wales.  I  received  my  appointment 
through  the  recommendation  of  several  Welsh  members, 
well-known  Radicals.  As  to  labour  questions,  I  have 
been  a  trade  unionist  all  my  life — that  is,  since  I  com- 
menced work  ;  I  have  taken  a  leading  part  for  more  than 
twenty  years,  and  have  had  a  large  experience  of  strikes  of 
all  kinds.  I  was  president  of  the  Miners1  Federation  for 
some  years,  and  have  on  many  occasions  presided  over 
meetings  conducted  wholly  in  Welsh.  Only  the  other 
day  I  was  chairman  of  a  Welsh  meeting  at  Cefnmawr 
for  the  purpose  of  raising  subscriptions  on  behalf  of  the 
Bethesda  men. 

And  this  is  the  sort  of  person  who  was 
supposed  to  be  competent  to  make  an  impartial 
report  to  the  Government  on  so  important  a 
matter  as  the  Penrhyn  dispute !  Altogether  it 
is  not  surprising  that  there  should  be  so  many 
employers  of  labour  who  consider  that  the 
officials  of  the  Board  of  Trade  and  its  Labour 


THE   BOARD   OF  TRADE 

Department  "look  at  labour  questions  through 
trade  union  spectacles,"  and  avoid  them  ac- 
cordingly. 

So  there  is  a  strong  feeling  on  the  part  of 
employers  that,  even  if  the  Labour  Department 
be  not  abolished  altogether — a  course  which 
many  of  them  recommend — it  should  at  least 
be  reorganised,  so  that  it  may  be  freed  from  its 
present  trade  union  bias  and  converted  into  an 
impartial  and  trustworthy  organisation,  com- 
posed of  men  of  judicial  minds,  with  a  leaning 
neither  to  employers  nor  to  employed,  but 
acting  with  strict  justice  towards  both.  In  any 
case  the  "  local  correspondents "  should  be  got 
rid  of.  They  are  not  recognised  by  the  em- 
ployers, many  of  whom  would  not  allow  them 
even  to  come  into  their  offices ;  the  information 
they  get  is  one-sided,  and  the  local  influence 
they  exercise  is  often  most  pernicious.  If  local 
information  is  wanted  it  could  be  much  better 
collected  by  local  journalists,  who  would  be  able 
to  obtain  news  from  both  sides  and  could  be 
trusted  to  supply  it  with  impartiality.  The 
only  possible  objection  to  this  course  is  that,  if 
it  were  adopted,  politicians  would  not  have  the 
same  chance  of  cultivating  the  working-class 
vote. 

The  creation  of  the  Labour  Department  in  its 


ORIGIN   OF  THE   LABOUR   DEPARTMENT 

present  form  in  the  early  part  of  1893  was  the 
outcome  of  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  Mr. 
Mundella  to  anticipate  any  action  that  might 
be  taken  on  these  lines  as  the  result  of  the 
recommendations  of  the  Labour  Commission 
which  was  then  still  sitting.  This  may  seem 
an  ungenerous  thing  to  say,  but  it  is  warranted 
by  facts,  and  the  statement  is  made,  not  with 
any  desire  to  prejudice  Mr.  Mundella's  memory, 
but  in  order  to  show  that  there  need  be  less 
scruple  about  reforming  the  department  now. 
Though  the  trade  unionists,  too,  may  be  said 
to  have  "  captured  "  the  department,  it  is  only 
fair  to  them  to  say  that  they  had  nothing  to 
do  with  bringing  it  into  existence.  Thus,  in  an 
article  published  in  The  Times  of  January  13, 
1893,  giving  the  first  public  intimation  that 
the  Labour  Department  was  about  to  be  formed, 
the  following  passage  occurs  : 

This  action  on  the  part  of  the  Government  is  being 
taken  entirely  on  their  own  initiative,  without  any 
pressure,  gentle  or  otherwise,  having  been  brought  to 
bear  upon  them  by  the  Labour  party,  whether  within 
or  outside  their  own  circle,  though  the  creation  of  a 
Labour  Department  has  long  been  a  cherished  idea  of 
that  party. 

It    was,    therefore,    no    fault    of    the    trade 
unionists    (on   whose   heads   so  many  sins  have 


THE   BOARD   OF  TRADE 

already  been  laid !)  that  Mr.  Mundella  organised 
the  Labour  Department  without  awaiting  the 
practical  suggestions  that  might  be  expected  to 
result  from  the  sittings  of  the  Labour  Com- 
mission. When  the  commissioners  issued  their 
report  they  told  how— 

Dr.  Elgin  Gould,  the  official  of  the  Federal  Labour 
Department  of  the  United  States,  who  has  collected 
labour  statistics  for  his  Government  in  many  countries, 
and  has  had  exceptional  opportunities  of  comparison, 
gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  Great  Britain  no  longer 
occupied  the  leading  position  which  was  once  held  in 
this  respect,  and  could  regain  it  only  by  following  the 
example  of  other  countries,  and  establishing  a  strong 
bureau  of  skilled  investigators  ....  There  appears  to 
be  in  America,  the  colonies,  and  European  countries 
generally  a  tendency  towards  the  development  of  institu- 
tions for  the  collection  and  examination,  by  skilled 
officials,  of  facts  relating  to  industry  and  bearing  on 
labour  questions,  and  the  presentation  of  them  to  the 
public.  Dr.  Gould  was  of  opinion  that  a  very  great  in- 
direct effect  was  exercised  by  the  work  of  his  department, 
although  it  is  one  of  a  purely  statistical  character,  through 
the  diffusion  of  trustworthy  information  as  to  the  con- 
ditions of  industry,  in  promoting  the  peaceful  solution  of 
difficulties,  and  averting  conflicts  which  might  have  been 
caused  by  ignorance  and  misunderstanding.  He  thought 
that  it  was  most  important  that  a  Department  of  Labour 
Statistics  should  be  kept  free  from  all  political  influences 
and  as  separate  as  possible  from  any  administrative  func- 
tions, and  that  even  to  impose  upon  it  duties  connected 
with  any  conciliation  or  arbitration  might  cause  it  to  be 
suspected  of  bias  ....  It  would  further  appear  that  in  the 


AN  URGENT  AND  GROWING  NEED  233 

United  States  the  existence  of  a  regular,  strong,  and 
expert  organisation  for  collecting  information  has  dis- 
pensed with  the  necessity  of  many  inquiries  by  special 
commission  or  legislative  committees,  and  the  work,  so 
far  as  it  relates  to  the  collection  of  information,  has  often 
been  done  in  a  more  satisfactory  manner.  It  has  been 
suggested  that  in  this  country  a  similar  department 
might  in  some  cases  undertake  such  inquiries  on  behalf  of 
commissions  or  select  committees. 

In  their  "  Recommendations "  the  Royal 
Commissioners  said : 

The  department  of  the  Board  of  Trade  which  deals 
with  labour  statistics  has  recently  been  reorganised  and 
strengthened.  Several  of  the  suggestions  which  we  should 
have  desired  to  make  with  regard  to  the  work  of  this 
department  have  been  anticipated  by  the  publication  of 
the  Labour  Gazette,  which  is  doing  very  useful  work  .... 
Without  criticising  the  work  done  by  the  local  corre- 
spondents of  the  Labour  Department,  we  think  that  their 
services  would  hardly  be  available  for  those  systematic 
inquiries  into  the  conditions  of  industry  for  which  there  is 
an  urgent  and  growing  need  in  this  country. 

The  Royal  Commissioners  went  on  to  say 
that  in  these  respects  there  was  a  deficiency 
which  they  thought  should  not  be  allowed  to 
remain  without  a  serious  attempt  to  remedy  it ; 
and  they  suggested  that  a  beginning  should 
be  made  at  once  with  "  a  staff  of  skilled  in- 
vestigators," whose  work  of  investigation  would 
be  conducted  on  the  spot.  They  proceeded: 


234  THE   BOARD   OF  TRADE 

We  do  not  attempt  to  forecast  in  detail  the  inquiries 
which  this  staff  should  make,  for  as  time  goes  on  the 
department  will  learn  from  its  own  experience  what 
inquiries  are  most  urgently  needed,  and  will  select  from 
these  such  as  the  resources  at  its  disposal  will  enable  it  to 
conduct  to  the  best  advantage.  It  will,  also,  be  guided 
by  instructions  and  requests  proceeding  from  the  Legis- 
lature, various  departments  of  Government,  and  Royal 
Commissioners.  A  great  part  of  the  work  which  is  now 
done  by  temporary  assistant  commissioners  could  be  done 
more  efficiently,  and  much  more  economically,  by  persons 
with  some  special  knowledge  of  the  particular  subject  and 
of  the  methods  most  appropriate  for  dealing  with  it. 

These  extracts  afford  abundant  food  for  re- 
flection at  the  present  time,  and  they  suggest  a 
variety  of  questions.  Would  it  not,  for  instance, 
have  been  better  if,  instead  of  rushing  Mr. 
Mundella's  Labour  Department  into  existence 
before  the  Labour  Commission  could  report,  a 
little  more  patience  had  been  shown,  and  the 
department  had  been  organised  on  the  broader 
lines  laid  down  by  the  Royal  Commissioners? 
Can  the  Labour  Department,  as  at  present 
organised,  be  depended  on  to  ensure  "the 
diffusion  of  trustworthy  information,"  to  carry 
out  the  systematic  inquiries  for  which  there  is 
still  "  an  urgent  and  growing  need,"  and  to 
exercise  the  indirect  benefits  spoken  of  by 
Dr.  Gould  ?  Can  it  be  said  of  our  Labour 
Department  that  it  is  "  free  from  all  political 


PERTINENT  QUERIES  235 

influences,"  and  that  there  is  nothing  in  its 
composition  that  "might  cause  it  to  be  suspected 
of  bias  "  ?  Could  it  be  depended  on,  especially 
in  such  critical  times  as  those  through  which 
our  industries  are  passing,  to  give  absolutely  fair 
and  unprejudiced  guidance  to  the  Legislature, 
or  to  various  departments  of  the  Government 
on  industrial  questions?  Is  there  any  real 
reason,  apart  from  their  influence  over  the 
Labour  vote,  why  the  trade  unionists,  who 
represent  under  two  millions  of  the  entire 
industrial  population  of  this  country,  should 
have  the  controlling  influence  over  a  department 
which  is  presumably  intended  to  promote  the 
welfare  of  the  whole  land  ?  And  finally,  has 
not  the  time  arrived  for  the  Labour  Department 
to  be  transformed  from  a  body  whose  chief 
function  seems  to  be  to  provide  posts  for  trade 
union  officials,  past  or  present,  and  to  publish 
inadequate  reports  and  dreary  statistics  of  little 
or  no  practical  utility,  into  a  body  which  would 
perform  a  really  valuable  function  and  be  re- 
garded with  confidence  by  all  classes  of  the 
community  ? 

Thus,  in  addition  to  all  the  other  suggestions 
which  have  been  made  in  the  course  of  these 
pages,  it  may  finally  be  most  strongly  urged 
that  there  are  two  things  for  which  some 


236  THE   BOARD   OF  TRADE 

Member  of  Parliament  should  ask, — firstly,  that  a 
return  should  be  prepared  showing  the  lines  on 
which  industrial  facts  and  statistics  are  collected 
in  other  countries  ;  and  secondly,  that  a  small 
committee  should  be  appointed  to  inquire  into 
the  present  constitution  of  the  Labour  Depart- 
ment, and  to  obtain  the  views,  not  alone  of 
trade  unionists,  but  of  employers  of  labour  also, 
as  to  the  best  means  that  could  be  adopted  to 
secure  for  it  a  greater  degree  of  usefulness  and 
public  favour.  There  are  many  employers  who 
say  that,  so  long  as  politicians  in  general  and 
members  of  the  Government  in  particular  show 
so  great  a  leaning  towards  the  labour  vote,  they 
have  no  great  faith  in  any  Labour  Department 
at  all,  though  they  might  be  reconciled  to  it  if  it 
were  reconstructed  on  a  more  impartial  and 
practical  basis — that  is  to  say,  on  such  lines  as 
might  be  suggested  alike  by  the  report  of  the 
Royal  Labour  Commission,  by  the  information 
obtained  as  to  what  is  being  done  elsewhere, 
and  by  the  actual  requirements  of  present-day 
economic  conditions.  With  such  reconstruction, 
too,  there  should  be  a  change  of  name.  "  Labour" 
Department  may  well  convey  the  idea  of  a 
department  "  charged  with  the  interests  of 
labour,"  and  of  labour  exclusively.  What  is 
wanted  is  a  department  which  will  recognise 


RECONSTRUCTION  AND  CHANGE  OF  NAME    237 

and  secure  the  confidence  of  the  whole  of  the 
varied  interests  on  which  the  welfare  of  our 
industries  depends ;  and  such  recognition  would 
be  better  shown  if,  should  the  proposed  recon- 
struction be  brought  about,  the  name  "  Labour 
Department"  were  dropped  altogether,  and 
that  of  "Industrial  Intelligence  Department" 
adopted  instead. 


INDEX 


AMALGAMATED  SOCIETY  OF  LITHOGBAPHIC  PBINTEBS,  160 

„  „  RAILWAY  SEBVANTS,  71, 202 

AMEBICAN  COMPETITION  :  boot  and  shoe  trade,  66,  67 ;  brass  trades, 

109,  112,  119  ;  Sheffield  trades,  130;  saw  trade,  138  ;  edge  tools, 

139,  140 ;  file-making,  140 ;  iron  and  steel  trade,  172 
AMEBICAN  LABOUB  STATISTICS,  how  organised,  232 

„          METHODS  :  the   working  of   machinery,  51,  172 ;    Engligh 

expert's  views,  185-191 
AMEBICAN  PBEMIUM  SYSTEM,  187,  210 
APPBENTICES,    Restriction    of  :    Yorkshire    glass    bottle   trade,    84 ; 

black  bottle  trade,  89  ;  flint-glass  trade,  100,  107  ;  Sheffield  trades, 

128,  129,  132,  134 

APPBENTICESHIP  SYSTEM,  Breakdown  of,  126-128 
ASSOCIATED  SOCIETY  OF  CABPENTEBS  AND  JOINEBS,  35 


BAILEY,  MESSES.  J.  &  W.  O.,  affected  by  glass  trade  dispute,  81,  82 
BELGIUM  :  Belgian    makers  and  plate-glass  bevelling  trade,  80,  82  ; 

strike  in    Belgian  glass  trade,  83 ;    schools  of  gunmaking,  122 ; 

competition  in  gun  trade,  124 
BENEFIT   FUNDS  (organised  by    employers) :   for    railway    workers, 

74,  75,  202 ;  attitude  of  trade  union  officials,  201 
BENEFIT  FUNDS  (trade  union) :  constitute  a  "  hold  "  on  trade  union 

members,  38,  39,  103 ;  used  for  industrial  warfare,  202 ;  a  useful 

weapon  for  officials,  218  ;  need  for  guarantees,  219 
BIBMINGHAM  BfiASS  TsADES  :  disregard  for  economic  situation,  109 ; 

what  foreign    competition    means,    109-111;   demands    of   men's 

union,  111 ;  arbitration  thereon,  112 ;  the  trades  saved,  113 
BIBMINGHAM  SMALL  ABMS  COMPANY,  121 

239 


240  INDEX 

BIRMINGHAM  TINPLATE  TRADE  :  reduced  cost  of  production  necessary, 
114  ;  male  and  female  labour,  115;  union  demands  and  their  result, 
116-119. 

BOILERMAKING  AND  SHIPBUILDING  :  coercion  of  foremen,  50 ;  supre- 
macy of  the  worker,  51  ;  scruples  against  machinery,  51 ;  delays 
in  executing  orders,  52 ;  policy  of  men's  union,  53 ;  contrast  with 
Germany,  54  ;  Boilermakers'  Society's  rules,  55-58 ;  shipbuilding 
troubles,  178 

BOOT  &  SHOE  TRADES  :  checks  on  individual  energy,  65,  66 ;  com- 
parisons with  United  States,  66,  67  ;  restriction  of  out-put,  67-70  ; 
minimum  wage,  68,  70 

BOYS  :  training  of,  76-78,  93,  122-125,  146,  212  ;  troubles  caused  by 
boys,  183 

BRICKLAYING  :  past  and  present,  28,  29  ;  position  of  foreman,  30  ; 
"  limit "  of  London  County  Council  bricklayers,  31 ;  London  School 
Board  work,  31 ;  what  bricklaying  costs,  32,  33  ;  intimidation,  34 

BRITANNIA-METAL  SMITHS,  131 

BRITANNIA-METAL  SMITHS'  PROVIDENT  SOCIETY,  131-134 

BUILDING  TRADES  :  how  influenced  by  "  go  easy  "  practices,  28-35  ; 
disputes  between  unions,  36;  "moral  suasion"  against  employers, 
37 ;  effect  of  present  conditions  on  house  property,  40-42 

"  CA'  CANNY  " :   origin  of  phrase,  22 ;  application,  23 ;  to  absorb  the 

unemployed,  24;    eating  the  heart  out  of   British  industry,   25; 

outcome  of  trade  unionism  and  advanced  Socialism,  27 ;  whither 

"  go  easy  "  is  leading,  192-194 
COAL  TRADE  :  miners  and  non-unionists,  175 
COMBINATIONS  (Employers')  :  practical  utility  of,  214 ;  employers'  and 

workmen's  combinations  compared,  215 
COMMUNITY  OF  INTEREST,  145,  216" 
CUTLERY  TRADES,  135 

DALE,  SIR  DAVID,  arbitrates  in  Birmingham  brass  trades,  112 
DELAVEL,  LORD,  black  bottle  trade  introduced  by,  88 
DOCKERS'  UNION,  195,  199 

EDGE  TOOLS,  139 

ENGINEERING  TRADES  :  the  great  dispute,  and  after,  43,  44 ;  employ- 
ment of  non-unionists,  45 ;  competition  from  abroad,  46,  47;  hopes, 
for  improvement,  48 ;  use  of  machinery,  172,  175 


INDEX 

FILE-MAKING,  HO 

FOEEMEN,  POSITION  OF,  30,  50,  158,  217 

FEANCE  :  edge  tool  making,  140  ;  iron  pipes  from,  174 

FBIENDLY  SOCIETY  OF  IEONFOUNDEES,  59 

FUENITUBE   TBADES:   past  and  present,   162,  163;   increased   use    of 

machinery,  163  ;  increased  need  for  labour,  165  ;  factories  succeed 

garrets,  165 

GAS-WOEKEBS'  UNION,  62 

GEEMANY  :  engineering  firms  undersold  by  Germans,  44,  47 ;  position 
of  German  shipbuilders,  54 ;  Germans  and  glass  bottle  trade,  86 ; 
black  bottle  trade  introduced  from  Germany,  88  ;  simpler  processes 
there,  89 ;  Germans  capture  the  market,  90 ;  German  workers 
brought  to  North  Woolwich,  90-93 ;  flint-glass  trade,  96  ;  com- 
petition in  brass  trades,  109-112  ;  tinplate  trade,  116  ;  gun-making, 
122 ;  Sheffield  trades,  130,  136,  137 ;  printing  trades,  150,  160 ; 
gold-beating  industry,  167-171 

GLASS  TEADES  :  plate-glass  bevellers,  79-82 ;  plate-glass  and  sheet-glass, 
83  ;  Yorkshire  glass  bottle  trade,  84-87 ;  black  bottle  trade,  88-93 ; 
flint-glass  trade,  94-108 

GOLD-BEATING  INDUSTEY  :  incursions  of  German  industry,  167 ; 
difference  between  German  and  British  article,  168;  German 
small  masters,  169;  British  public  |  to  blame,  170 

GOULD,  DE.  ELGIN  :  views  on  labour  statistics,  232 

GUNMAKEES  (Birmingham)  :  dearth  of  efficient  hands,  121 ;  training 
of  lads,  122-125 

GUNMAKEES'  UNION,  123 

HOUSE  PEOPEETY  :  how  affected  by  building  trade  troubles,  40-42 

HOLLAND,  printing  going  to,  150 

HULL  DOCKS  :  under  trade  union  rule,  195  ;  action  of  shipowners  and 

overthrow    of    Dockers'    Union,  197;  .attempt  to  cause   further 

trouble,  199-200 

INCOEPOEATED  FEDEEATED  ASSOCIATIONS  OF  BOOT  AND  SHOE 
MANUFACTUBEBS,  68 

INTIMIDATION:  building  trades,  34;  plate-glass  bevellers,  79;  flint- 
glass  trade,  104  ;  shipping  trade,  196 

IBONFOUNDING  :  district  by-laws  of  Ironf ounders'  Society,  59,  60 ; 
objections  to  machinery,  60,  61 

16 


INDEX 

LABOUB  DEPARTMENT  OF  BOARD  OP  TBADE:  little  advantage  taken 
of  Conciliation  Act,  221 ;  prejudices  against  department,  222-224  ; 
how  constituted,  225  ;  the  local  correspondents,  225-229 ;  how  the 
department  was  created,  230-232  ;  the  Labour  Commission's  recom- 
mendations, 233,  234  ;  desirability  of  reconstruction,  236 

LONDON  COUNTY  COUNCIL  :  their  bricklayers'  "  limit,"  31 ;  effect  of 
labour  policy,  30,  31 

LONDON  MASTER  BUILDERS'  ASSOCIATION,  37 

LONDON  PLATE-GLASS  TRADES  ASSOCIATION,  79 

LONDON  SCHOOL  BOARD,  buildings  for,  30,  31 

LONDON  SOCIETY  OP  COMPOSITORS,  154 

LONDON  SOCIETY  OP  LITHOGRAPHIC  PRINTERS,  160 

LONDON  UNION  OP  JOURNEYMEN  BASKETMAKERS,  203 


MACHINERY  :  engineering  trades,  44,  48,  172-175 ;  shipbuilding,  51,  52 ; 
ironfounding,  60,  61  ;  glass  trades,  86 ;  tinplate  trades,  119 ; 
Sheffield  trades,  130 ;  cutlery,  136 ;  razors,  137 ;  saws,  138 ;  edge 
tools,  139 ;  files,  140 ;  proposed  further  use,  143 ;  printing  trades, 
151-161;  furniture  trades,  162-166;  machinery  in  America,  190, 
191 ;  greater  resort  to  machinery — the  employers'  policy  of  self- 
defence,  208-211 

MINIMUM  WAGE  THEORY  :  view  of  boot  and  shoe  manufacturers, 
67-70;  glass  trades,  86;  Birmingham  brass  trades,  111,  113;  in 
the  United  States,  187 

MOORE  &  NETTLEFOLD,  MESSRS.,  90 

MUNDELLA,  MR.:  "Rushing"  the  Labour  Department,  231 

NATIONAL  FLINT-GLASS  MAKERS'  SOCIETY,  94-108 

NATIONAL  PLATE-GLASS  BEVELLERS'  UNION,  79,  81 

NATIONAL  SOCIETY  OF  AMALGAMATED  BRASS-WORKERS,  111 

"  NEW  "  UNIONISM,  THE,  22 

"NEWER"  UNIONISM,  THE,  22 

NON-UNION  LABOUR:    position  in  building  trades,  38;    engineering 

trades,  45;   gas-workers,   63,   64;    Sheffield  trades,  146;  printing 

trades,  159 ;  coal  trade,  175 

OPERATIVE  BRICKLAYERS'  SOCIETY,  36 


INDEX  243 

PRINTING  TRADES  :  reduction  of  output,  148 ;  London  distractions, 
149  ;  trade  going  to  provinces  and  Continent,  150  ;  "  go  easy,"  151 ; 
use  of  machinery,  151-157 ;  the  general  position,  157-159  ;  litho- 
graphic colour  printing,  160 

RAILWAY  WORKERS  :   the   Amalgamated   Society,   71 ;  "  go  easy "  in 

railway  operation,  72  ;  shorter  hours  and  outside  work,  73  ;  wages 

question,  73,  74 
RAZOR  TRADE,  137 
RESTRICTION  OF  OUTPUT  :  adopted  by  the  "  newer  "  unionism,  22  ; 

effect  on  British   industry,   25;  effect  on  workers,  27;  building 

trades,  28 ;    boilermaking,  51  ;  boot  and  shoe  trades,  65,  67-69  ; 

railways,  72  ;  glass  trades,  97  ;  printing  trades,  151 ;  will  not  remedy 

industrial  situation,  193 

ROYAL  COMMISSION  ON  LABOUR,  and  their  recommendations,  231-234 
RULES     OP    TRADE    UNIONS     (Examples    of)  :     boilermakers,     55 ; 

ironfounders,  59 ;  Britannia-metal  smiths,  132,  133 ;  Typographical 

Association,  155 

SAW  TRADE,  138 

"  SEAMEN'S  CHRONICLE,"  22,  26 

SHEFFIELD  TRADES  :  breakdown  of  apprenticeship  system,  126 ; 
restriction  of  number  of  workers,  127 ;  variety  of  unions,  128  ; 
fixing  the  rate  of  wages,  129 ;  diversion  of  trade,  130,  131 ; 
Britannia-metal  smiths,  131 ;  silversmiths,  134 ;  cutlery  trades, 
135;  razor  trade,  137;  saw  trade,  138;  edge  tools,  139;  file- 
making,  140;  future  of  the  trades,  142-147 

SHIPOWNERS  :  the  Shipping  Federation,  76 

SILVERSMITHS,  134 

SOCIALISM  :  its  aspiration,  24 ;  strengthening  the  propaganda,  25,  27  ; 
injuring  industries,  192  ;  attempted  capture  of  trade  unionism,  205 

SOUTH  METROPOLITAN  GAS  COMPANY  :  Labour  troubles,  62  ;  resort 
to  non-union  labour,  63 ;  advantages  of,  64 

STEEL  MELTERS'  UNION,  172 

SWEDEN  :  doors,  etc.,  imported  from,  35 

TARIFFS,  HOSTILE  :  effect  on  Sheffield  trades,  126,  131 
TINPLATE  WORKERS'  ASSOCIATION  115-120 


244  INDEX 

TRADE  UNIONS  :  effect  of  more  aggressive  type  on  the  trade  of  the 
country,  21 ;  the  "  new  "  and  the  " newer"  unionisms,  22  ;  the  con- 
trolling influence,  145 ;  variety  of  unions  in  a  single  works,  128, 
176 ;  aggressive  action  out  of  date,  198 ;  utility  of  reasonably 
conducted  trade  unions,  198 ;  essential  principle  good,  203 ; 
Socialist  action  and  what  it  led  to,  205  ;  need  for  a  trade  union 
reform  movement,  206 

TYPOGRAPHICAL  ASSOCIATION,  155 

WORKMAN,  ENGLISH,  VIEWS  ON  :  an  engineering  manager,  173,  174 ; 
an  ironmaster,  181-184;  an  engineering  expert,  189 


Printed  and  bound  by  Hazell,  Watson  &  Viney,  Ld.,  London  and  Aylesbury. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


OCT  26  19,5 


APR  2  2  1976 

STANFORD 
NTERUBRARY  LOAN 


1926 


60 


30m-6/14 


YB   19269 


